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Ellina Mhlanga

Senior Sports Reporter

THE meeting between the Zimbabwe Handball Federation and clubs that was scheduled for last Saturday is now expected to take place on a new date after the clubs and other invited representatives failed to turn up.

Some of the clubs have cited late communication as the reason they could not make it on Saturday while sources close to the clubs have indicated that most of them are not happy in the way or manner in which the federation is being run under the leadership of Beauty Mtsambiwa.

In their invitation letter to the provincial, regional and clubs’ chairpersons, provincial technical directors and the playing rules commission chair, the national federation indicated that the main focus of the meeting was to strategise on how best to improve the delivery of the game in club system.

The meeting was scheduled to take place at Kwekwe Sports Club last Saturday.

Manyame secretary-general, Ganizani Karanga, said they got the notice for the meeting late, making it impossible to make the logistical arrangements to travel to Kwekwe.

“As a club we did not manage to send a representative to the meeting due to other commitments.

“We are a club which is controlled by the Air Force of Zimbabwe, we got the notice late, so to make arrangements for us to go to Kwekwe for the meeting it was a bit tricky for us,” said Karanga.

Karanga, who is also the secretary-general for Harare Province, added that most of the clubs are struggling financially.

“I think basically the issue has to do with communication between the motherbody and the provincial associations.

“For this instance, the message was relayed but we got the communication a bit late, so when we cascaded the message to the clubs it was also a bit of a challenge.

“Most of our clubs are community-based clubs, so we don’t have the resources to travel to places like Kwekwe which are far, especially for clubs in the Harare Province.

“Most clubs are surviving from hand to mouth and there is no sponsorship for handball clubs to partake in handball activities. It’s just out of love for the sport. Most clubs are partaking in handball due to the love of the sport,” said Karanga.

Manicaland chairperson Alan Mandeya said the timing of the meeting might have contributed to the situation.

“I think it was the timing which they called the meeting, that’s why no one showed up. And the other thing, maybe the other issue, people did not understand what was the purpose of the meeting, that’s why they did not come.

“To make matters worse there was a tournament which was being held in Madziwa, in Mashonaland Central.”

Harare City secretary general, Jabulani Mafanya, said they were aware of the meeting but they got a short notice.

“We were aware of the meeting. Unfortunately, we couldn’t go because the notice was quite a short notice and unfortunately since it’s the start of the year, the institutions are still running around to put their houses in order.

“So internally, we could not satisfy all the processes to be able to attend,” said Mafanya.

Mashonaland Central Province chairperson, Shushai Chimusambe, said they had a tournament running on the day and the notice was short.

“The first reason is we were having a tournament at Madziwa Teachers College, so I could not attend because of the tournament.

“Also the notice, it was a short notice. It was less than a week. I instructed others to go but most of the guys said they did not have money to travel,” said Chimusambe.

In their defence, ZHF secretary general, Edson Chirowodza said the meeting was already on the national calendar.

“The notice was just a reminder because everything else was on the national calendar. I think the major challenge is that they didn’t have money to travel.”

He said they will get guidance from the technical department on the new date.

Some of the issues which were expected to be discussed during the meeting included playing formats, player licensing and transfer, financing and affiliation of clubs, an overview of the 2022 clubs system and election of the Premier Handball League executive that will run local league competitions.