The Sunday Mail
Joe Rugwete
I HAVE looked at the way the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee is being run and without taking anything away from the current and past administrators, I have seen areas which can be improved.
With my vast experience of being an athlete, official and administrator – locally, continentally and regionally – I have learnt a lot about sport.
I ask myself certain questions. Why Zimbabwe is where it is? Why don’t we have a sports centre? Why aren’t we taking full advantage of grants from Olympic Solidarity? Why are some member associations viewed as more important than others when it comes to membership and the attention they get from ZOC?
The failure to answer these questions satisfactorily explains why we only have Kirsty Coventry to talk of in terms of the Olympics; it explains why we haven’t managed to produce another Kirsty Coventry in other disciplines.
We have to introduce science in our sports because it is known it will take about nine years to produce an Olympian.
We have had years to do that but we haven’t and I think it’s time for somebody to come and do it.
I don’t want to talk about who hasn’t done what, I want to only highlight areas that are deficient.
We have universities doing Sports Science in Zimbabwe and as researchers have they been involved in the development of sport?
I am not a researcher, I am an administrator, but when I look at my long-term athlete development, I know I need these scientists.
The corporate world may be struggling, but not all of them are struggling and I don’t believe it is impossible to approach Government for land to construct a sporting institute, a high performance centre.
I understand there is land in Epworth given to ZOC, but I also believe they were given to it a long time ago to the extent that it has been occupied by illegal settlers as there was no development.
I also believe there is money that came from the International Olympic Committee for that project and that money, to the best of my knowledge, should not be credited to anyone in terms of presidents or administrators; it is money that we are entitled to.
I was in Zambia and visited their sports centre which is their Olympic Village and this is where I began wondering why we can’t do the same.
President Mugabe recognises sport and set up the Ministry of Sport and Recreation but we cannot expect Government to go it alone.
The minister can’t do that by himself; he is a policymaker, he is doing his best in terms of driving policy. We need sports people to be the foot soldiers and I am ready to serve the country.
The main reason I am going to contest in these elections is that I was approached by associations after I resigned from the Zimbabwe Karate Union.
There is a strange situation, however, where the (ZOC) board’s term of office is over; it has been dissolved. So where do they get the power to vote?
This is a position to lead national associations and it these associations that should be given the mandate to vote … this issue where members whose term is over still have voting powers is strange.
It is very undemocratic.
It goes completely against principles of corporate governance and it is there to serve personal interests…this is my view.
Why else would that situation arise and yet we can’t even find it in the constitution of the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee?
If things are done to serve the best interests of sport then stakeholders of ZOC, which are the national associations, should each be given one vote.
I know it will be a difficult race because there are certain associations that have been benefitting from ZOC more than others and they want that status quo to remain.
And these organisations still carry a vote so I know it will be very difficult.
However, if people apply their minds correctly they should be able to realize that electing people who have served for eight years means an additional four years of flawed administration.
Joe Rugwete, who will be contesting for the post of ZOC president, was speaking to Brighton Zhawi in Harare on April 11, 2017
