The Sunday News
Simba Dube Leisure Sports Correspondent
DESPITE initially having a dream to leave a legacy in Zimbabwean football, Cuthbert Dube’s stint so far at the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) has been associated with turmoil and disaster. As we recall, Dube took the baton from Wellington Nyatanga as the new Zifa boss in March 2010. His mandate to rule the national game was celebrated by scores of football fans throughout the country.
Deceived by his colourful manifesto, the whole nation saw Dube as the saviour of Zimbabwean football.
Little did they know what was about to befall them!
As the months passed with Dube behind the steering wheel, a journey that was expected to be an immediate party, unfolded as a wake.
Dube’s liason with the national game can somehow be recognised as a “marriage of convenience” as he does not attend any soccer matches as expected of any football boss.
His administration might have inherited an institution that was already in the red financially, but the promises in his manifesto tricked the nation into an “optical illusion” of some sort, with many soccer enthusiasts then foreseeing an end to the country’s football maladies.
With Dube in power now, adverse headlines about the national football motherbody have been trending in many sections of the media, and over the past five years the bleeps and blunders at No. 53 Livingstone in Harare have indeed silenced the drums of the soccer-mad nation.
Below are some of the promises made by Dube during his 2010 campaign and after his inauguration as the Zifa president.
“Upon coming into office, my board shall engage our sister football association Safa with a view towards creating opportunities for special placement of our volunteers during the World Cup. A full entertainment package for the fans shall be unveiled affording our fans the opportunity to experience the real 2010 Fifa World Cup away from South Africa. Fan parks shall house such entertainment activities during the World Cup.
“Awards for the most illustrious and deserving men and women shall be unveiled with the association putting together a Hall of Fame where our ‘who is who’ shall be inducted for posterity. Sponsors for the awards are waiting in the wings.
“We will mobilise sponsorship for the association’s portfolios. The sponsorship will seek to service development, general administration, marketing, national teams, infrastructure development and regeneration of the association.
“My board shall bid to host Caf and Fifa competitions in our bid to rebrand and profile the association in particular and Zimbabwe in general. We shall work with various service providers in rehabilitating our facilities ahead of such big events.
“Zifa will have an interactive website to market local football products and services locally and internationally.
“My board, through partnerships with corporates and Government, shall ensure that strong national teams are put together through a sound technical system that shall only see the best of Zimbabwe’s players donning national team jerseys.
“It gives me great pleasure to be elected president of Zifa today. I would want to be the unifying father of Zimbabwean football.
“This new board will ensure that it meets the promise it made. But we are mere individuals to drive the turn-around of Zifa.”
This was reiterated by Dube after the 2010 polls which were held at Prince Edward High School in Harare.
We can only say, perhaps, Dube has embraced the adage: “Promises are meant to be broken.’’
Even after Dube’s appointment Zifa is still sinking in debt.
Simply put, in a situation that can be interpreted as girl child abuse, the Mighty Warriors have been working without any allowances for the services they render in the national football circles.
Recently the nation suffered a huge blow as the Warriors were expelled from the 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifiers due to a $67 000 debt owed to their former coach Jose Claudinei Georgini (Valinhos).
That aside, the Hall of Fame plans also suffered a stillbirth due to lack of funds, even though Dube’s manifesto stated that sponsors for the project were “waiting on the wings.”
From the look of things, it’s easy to depict that the corporate world has since deserted the football motherbody.
Significantly, scores of Zimbabwean football fans signed an online “anti-Dube” petition started by former Caps United and Highlanders defender Mpumelelo Dzowa asking for the dismissal of the Zifa president. With all things seeming to be upside down, Dube is somehow living on borrowed time and his demise is something which seems to be inevitable.
The harsh reality to all this is, if Zimbabwe is to throw a bid to host a continental or international competition today, chances of been given the nod are slim due to the shambolic football infrastructure.
Of course, being a leader of an immense organisation comes with its critics, but in all honesty, Dube’s failures at the helm of the national game outweighs his successes and that’s a cause for concern, isn’t it?
But we should also note, with pride too, Dube’s achievements seeing to it that the Zifa Village is now up and running, something which his predecessors, including Nyatanga, failed to achieve in years.
