Dube must go - ZNSSA SPORTS WRITER • 20 AUGUST 2014 HARARE - The Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters Association (ZNSSA) has called on president Robert Mugabe to step in and sack the Zifa board led by Cuthbert Dube. Eddie Nyatanga, the ZNSSA president, last week wrote a detailed letter to Mugabe requesting the head of state act. Dube, who was re-elected for a second term in office in March, has come under increasing pressure after the Zimbabwe national team failed to qualify for the group stages of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. The Warriors were knocked out by the less fancied Tanzania in the first round of the preliminary qualifiers back in June. While Zimbabwe fell by the wayside, other smaller nations from the Cosafa region like Lesotho, Malawi and Botswana have all reached the final qualifying rounds for the Afcon tournament to be staged in Morocco next year. “We are aware that some people may want to blame the performance of this country’s economy for their failures. Your Excellency everywhere in the world football has succeeded where economies are failing e.g the state of Greece,” wrote Nyatanga. “That country has received a massive bailout from the EU but their national team qualified for the recently held World Cup in Brazil 2014 in the middle of such economic difficulties. “No matter how difficult the situation maybe people always find their way to the stadium to watch a good game of football. In our country people have lost confidence in the national team because of the maladministration by the leadership. “We make this request to you Sir because the current board under Mr Cuthbert Dube has failed to save our game from collapse in the following areas.” The outspoken supporters body president went on to list a number of charges against the Dube-led Zifa executive. “They failed to produce audited accounts for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 football seasons – these were only presented at the 2014 March AGM. Accounts for the 2013 are still to be presented and all these show miserable deficits,” says Nyatanga. “They accumulated in excess of $6 million debt which has not been adequately explained how it was accumulated and how they intend to service it. “They have not achieved any development programmes for the period in question but concentrated too much on the so called ‘Asiagate’ scandal with negative consequences. Four years is too long a period to concentrate on one item in football terms. “The so called Zifa Council has been helping to cover up for the obvious mistakes of rubber stamping everything because most of them were receiving kick-backs from someone who has massive financial resources.” The supporters say they know Zimbabwe will be sanctioned if there is any government involvement in Zifa affairs but if Mugabe seeks an audience with Fifa some common ground can be reached to allow a new board to come in place.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 11:20:09 +0000
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