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MEN ON A MISSION . . . FIFA development officer for Southern Africa Ashford Mamelodi (right) and International Sports consultant Kennedy Makambira share a few notes during a break at the ZIFA elections at the ZIFA Village on Saturday. — (Picture by Lee Maidza)

Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
WORLD soccer governing body FIFA have urged the newly elected ZIFA leadership and the game’s stakeholders to put behind them the election mode and hit the ground running in addressing the pressing issues haunting the troubled national association.

FIFA development officer for Eastern and Southern Africa Ashford Mamelodi, in congratulating newly elected ZIFA president Philip Chiyangwa and his board, said yesterday, all the key stakeholders in Zimbabwean football needed to unite and take the game to a new level.

Mamelodi was in the country to supervise the ZIFA elections that swept Chiyangwa into power on Saturday with the flamboyant Harare businessman winning convincingly with 40 votes against three other contestants — Trevor Carelse-Juul who polled 13, Leslie Gwindi (2) and James Takavada who could only garner a single vote.

The veteran administrator and honorary COSAFA secretary also commended the ZIFA electoral committee headed by retired High Court judge Justice Sello Nare for “an excellent job before, during and after the elections’’.

FIFA manager for member associations Luca Nicola and former South African Football Association president Molife Oliphant, who was representing the Confederation of African Football, were also in the country for the same election.

Nicola, Oliphant and Mamelodi later held a meeting with Chiyangwa which the FIFA development officer described as “very fruitful’’.

Mamelodi, speaking before his departure for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on yet another FIFA mission said yesterday that it was imperative that Chiyangwa and his board immediately put their shoulders to the wheel and switch from the election mode that had swamped them in the last month to the real deal.

“In terms of the polls, we are very happy that the electoral committee did an excellent job in the management of the election, they did a good job before, during and after the election.

“This is a new beginning for ZIFA. All the stakeholders should build football around the new leadership and help the new president and his board to address critical issues like the ZIFA debt.

“We met the president and we were able to exchange notes with him on the priorities which are the debt and the revision of the statutes which he needs to work on.

“The president needs support in terms of settling down to get to drive the association. There is also a priority for the president to strengthen the secretariat and make it more efficient and there may be need to streamline it too as part of cost-cutting measures,’’ Mamelodi said.

Mamelodi said the survival of the new board would hinge on the results they produce hence the need for the game’s stakeholders to support them.

“Survival of any board is based on how they perform and I think now is the time to put aside pre-election fights and rally behind the new leadership because the new leadership can only be judged by what they produce.’’

The FIFA point man in Eastern and Southern Africa also insisted that the world body was ready to assist the new ZIFA dispensation as they try to revive the fortunes of the broke association.

One of the areas FIFA will be looking to assist with is staging an induction of the new board as well as secondment of consultants to assist the association in various administrative departments.

Mamelodi also urged the nation to respect and support the choices made by the ZIFA councillors, who also elected Omega Sibanda who bounced back into the board as Chiyangwa’s deputy.

The assembly also voted in former Warriors and Moroka Swallows midfielder Edzai Kasinauyo as one of the four board members together with Eastern Region and Central Region chairmen Piraishe Mabhena and Felton Kamambo.

Conduit Soccer Academy owner Phillip Machana completes the line up of the board that will also be joined by the Premier Soccer League chairman Twine Phiri and the Women’s Football boss.

“The assembly wants them (the board) and so give them a chance to lead but certainly stakeholder involvement is essential.

“The new board should also walk the talk but we do recognise that whatever assistance they request from FIFA we will try and give,’’ Mamelodi said.

Mamelodi also insisted that Chiyangwa’s leadership should move with speed to pay off Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet what he is owed by ZIFA, arguing that as an administrative wing of the world body, they were powerless to have a disciplinary ruling rescinded.

“In light of what happened in 2018 (World Cup), it should be a priority because the decision came from a judicial body and we are administration, so we cannot change that. It is better for ZIFA to run around and pay up especially considering that what happened with the 2018 World Cup caused a big row in this country.

“I am glad that the incoming president recognises that it is a top priority,’’ Mamelodi said.

Saintfiet won $150 000 in damages after taking his case to FIFA.

The widely-travelled Belgian originally claimed $451 086,46 and is being represented by Spanish lawyers Ruiz, Huerta and Crespo, who helped him obtain a writ of execution after being awarded $150 000 in damages for coaching the Warriors for two session in just one day in the build-up to a 2012 African Cup of Nations Cup qualifier against Cape Verde at the National Sports Stadium.

Saintfiet had signed a deal to coach the Warriors for four years, but his romance with the senior team ended after just one day following his deportation for flouting the country’s immigration rules by working without a work permit.

That move also saw ZIFA being sanctioned by the Department of Immigration.

Just like Valinhos before him, Saintfiet could wreck Zimbabwe’s dream if playing in the qualifiers of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

With FIFA also giving him tips on how to go about his early days in office and the key areas to urgently address, Chiyangwa is now set to send his board and the secretariat into action as they also need to get the Warriors training camp for the 2016 African Nations Championships in order.

The home-based Warriors are looking to make the most of the remainder of this month to fully prepare for their record fourth successive appearance at the CHAN tournament which will run in Rwanda from January 16 to February 7.

Coach Callisto Pasuwa has already tabled his programme of action to the ZIFA secretariat led by chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze.