The Sunday News
Lewis Maunze, Correspondent
“SPORTS have the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sports can create hope, where there was once only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination. Sport is the game of lovers” — Former South African President Nelson Mandela.
With the current coronavirus burden, it is only normal that country politics is taking centre-stage in juxtaposition to sport. Speaking about sport or any other topics not deemed as urgent as politics may be viewed as trivial or even callous. This perspective is the reflection of the belief that extends across Africa and even Europe and the rest of the world. This paper serves to demystify this perspective through looking at international, regional and local examples. And finally exploring the pros and cons of how a country with a stunted sports law structure like Zimbabwe can develop along with the rest of the world. Specific scrutiny will be given to the much loved “world’s most beautiful game of football”.
International perspective
US President Donald Trump’s on and off tiff on the microblogging social networking platform Twitter with black athletes who refuse to respect the American national anthem in protest of the ensuing racism and the victimisation of the black race resonates with the clash between the “two giants” on an international front. Trump loyalists and American nationalists have construed this as a gross act of disrespect. He further remonstrates that players that kneel or refuse to take part in the pre-match tradition of singing the national anthem of the “stars and stripes” should be suspended. Those that support the athletes’ position believe that on the contrary the President should be seen to be trying to rectify this injustice rather than rant on Twitter. And this feud has degenerated and lost its main scope to personal insults with mega National Basketball Association star LeBron James. This backdrop clearly shows that even the “the most powerful man in the free world” clearly understood the influence that athletes and ultimately sport has.
How do politicians use sport?
Nationalism: There is the undeniable romance and sense of unity when a state president or official pays special interest to sporting events. The image which is still fresh in the world’s mind is the Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic donned in the chequered red and white soccer kit attending all the Croatian games and showing her emotions throughout the whole journey to the World Cup 2018 final. Another example in history and trademark for nationalism and unity was South Africa’s first black president Nelson Mandela celebrating with the Springboks. As a man who was a firm believer of equality among the races after a horrific apartheid, when the Springboks won the Rugby world cup 1995 it was a historic moment when he handed over the trophy to the then captain Francois Pienaar. From being the first nation to have a democratic election in 1994 this further fortified South Africa’s title as the “rainbow nation”. The highly revered statesman Nelson Mandela is also in the thick of involvement when South Africa was awarded the bid to be the first African state to host the World Cup in 2010. And as aptly coined by S Ndlovu, “sport was used as a cultural diplomacy in achieving this milestone”.
Athletes are also using their sporting history and popularity to enter into the politics scene. Of late Liberia has had their former AC Milan soccer star and world player of year winner George Weah taking over the reigns as President. There are football stars such as Roman Pavlyuchenko, Romario and Kaj Leo Johannesen who have used this platform as a springboard for political aspirations.
Sport as a protest weapon
It would be foolhardy to turn a blind eye on the magnanimous effect the Black Lives Matter movement has had in sport. Athletes, associations and corporates have unanimously shown their commitment to this movement after the unfortunate demise of George Floyd who was choked to his demise by a police officer. In the English Premier League, a moment is taken by the players on their knees as a metaphoric gesture as well as sponsors making room on their billboards and even soccer shirts in solidarity. What will become of racism is another story nonetheless this has been a forceful campaign and a vice used by sport.
In the past Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has also used his illustrious career to make a stance during the Catalonia uprising. In mitigation he accepts a fine from the English Football Association (FA) for intentionally wearing a yellow ribbon during Manchester City football matches as a protest and a demonstration for the support he had for the Catalonian politicians who had been incarcerated, but he made his point clear!
Financial: I never used to understand why states used to fight to get any successful bid to host any international sporting event until I appreciated the prospect of tourism, sponsorship, improvement of infrastructure, marketing and the creation of employment. The bigger the sporting event the larger the kitty from the sport governing body. Of course, the biggest winners in hosting these events are bodies like Fifa that rack in billions although notably in the 2014 World Cup the record prize money shared among the teams was US$576 million. TV rights are another huge incentive which draws politicians and politics attention to sport. The English premiership alone has had a windfall of up to 5,14 billion worth of pounds over 3 seasons overall value in live TV rights.
Local Perspective: Sports and politics are Siamese twins, given the interdependence in nation building as well as setting national agendas. At a glance in Zimbabwe the involvement of politics in sporting business has been glaring. There have been instances when individuals in the sporting arena are involved in party politics and vice versa. A local example is the former President and Vice of the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) that ran for political office in the 2018 election and were successful. Some feel that one has a right to political affiliation of their choice and on the other hand there is a belief that one aspiring or holding a public office cannot be seen to be aligned to a certain political party.
There is certainly no way of separating sport and politics entirely but there should be an attempt to be apolitical. Similar sentiments were echoed by David Coltart who said, “My view has always been that ideally politics and sport should be divorced from each other but sadly you can never fully separate politics from sport. I was Minister of Sports and had political powers over sporting bodies but I think what is critical is that sports administrators should not be political, the same way as headmasters and church leaders should be apolitical. So, it is problematic when you have sports administrators who also want to hold political office.”
Similar problems are caused by the lack of transparency and honesty around finance management. Past transgressions have raised eyebrows like the African Union Sports Council scandal where some officials have been accused of massive looting of goods and equipment meant for the games. And of late all eyes are on Zifa over the hefty Fifa funds of up to 1,5 million United States Dollars set to be received in batches towards the Covid-19 Relief Plan.
Nonetheless, it is not all just a sobre situation and there are numerous pros of adopting the international stance to the relation of sports and politics. Politicians in Zimbabwe are in the habit of using sport as a campaigning tool. On the eve of the Zimbabwe’s 2018 elections we saw some candidates using the strategy of convening sports galas and tournaments. Regionally you cannot avoid to mention the former Botswana President Ian Khama playing social football and has become the darling of his people for his occasional laid-back leadership style.
In conclusion, as currently mooted by the Zifa through its council as a panacea to having the healthy co-existence of politics and sport there have been discussions to amend the Zifa Constitution. This constitutional amendment which has already been endorsed by crucial stakeholders is meant to bar active politicians from taking up posts in sports administration. Is this a progressive solution in your view?
