The Sunday Mail
Subject: YOU ARE BEING CLUMSY PHIL
Dear PC,
TODAY marks your 120th day as Zifa president and I thought it prudent to drop you a note.
Hope I find you well.
Recent photographs of you have sent tongues wagging as you look a bit pale, look like you have lost weight.
Pseudo medical experts have been quick to diagnose you with this or that disease and never the effects of the operation you just had on your troublesome leg.
But that bar talk should not bother you as you once told me PC thrives in adversity.
“Aiwaka Makomborero I am a surviver, they can talk hee Chiyangwa this, hee Chiyangwa that but I will be doing my thing, making a difference. I have no time for haters,” you said.
Your spirit hasn’t changed.
You are still bubbly and hyperactive as evidenced by the manner you went through the motions on Easter Monday as the Warriors took Swaziland to the cleaners.
Have you always been friends with Makhosini Hlongwane or it’s something that developed when the Minister of Sport and Recreation suddenly became your boss on December 5 last year?
Your combination is something else!
You have both worked hard to bring order to our game, well done.
However, I am told there are concerns by Mrs Chiyangwa and the kids that you are overworking.
The task of being Zifa president added to an already full plate and they are feeling it at that big white mansion of yours.
Even at those fancy offices along Enterprise Road, your receptionist has grown used to attending to a different kettle of fish.
I bet she can now tell the difference between the ones who want to buy property and the ones who visit because “pane nyaya yebhora ikuda kutaurwa”.
The balancing act must be tough and it seems you have been busy to an extent that you haven’t found time to do the selfies.
Your king of selfies title must be under threat now, Doc!
Admittedly you haven’t been the disaster of a Zifa president many of us feared. But there are times you have done business in a clumsy way.
Kallisto Pasuwa’s salary situation has to be addressed mudhara because it has the potential to rock our boat when everything looks on course for Gabon 2017.
Another example of your clumsiness was that futile attempt to gatecrash Wellington Mpandare into the Warriors set-up.
It backfired terribly and Omega Sibanda ended up taking the flack for a move he didn’t moot.
Yes, Welly put in the yards during your campaign and deserves to be rewarded but you could have been smarter about it.
In the end it became a popularity contest, or no-contest, between Mpandare and Shariff Mussa.
Mussa is a class act, a very good team manager, hence the attitude you got from Pasuwa and his technical team when you tried to make the changes.
Your latest gaffe is the way you have gone about employing Nyasha Mushekwi’s estranged wife.
Maybe Luminista Dumbisa Mushekwi nee Jemwa has the skills that Zifa badly need but her appointment as a “sports image consultant” could have been handled better, too.
It appears everyone but you PC was surprised by her coming on board.
And in an environment that is mischievous as ours, the theories fly all over the place when such things happen and a beautiful woman like her is involved.
However, I understand your interest in Luminista is purely professional.
The way you laughed off suggestions that there could be more between the two of you over the phone on Wednesday evening buttressed the feeling I already had.
“I am a father to her, remember I have a daughter much older than her and I know what she is going through. They, together with the husband, are going through a tough time and I am seeking to help them … I know you want a story but wait a bit.
“Ndozokuudzaka pekutsemura, haaa unorova ndozviketa,” you said before that hearty laughter of yours concluded the conversation.
But seriously PC, you ought to have known that giving Luminista the nod to travel to Swaziland for the Good Friday clash with Sihlangu was a recipe for disaster.
Mushekwi took offence, his teammates backed him and Pasuwa was forced to take up the matter with Hlongwane leading to that emergency meeting in the minister’s hotel room.
The Warriors camp could have done without that drama.
However, one has to say well done to you for realising the mistake and booking Luminista on the first flight back home – you made a mess and cleaned it up.
Top guy!
But where do we go from here?
Unless that letter of appointment you wrote on March 15 has been reversed Luminista is a Zifa employee now – albeit one that is paid by a “sponsor”.
Maybe Zifa needs her, Nyasha doesn’t.
But there is bound to be some professional interaction between the two so please sort out that sticky situation before the Afcon qualifier at home to Malawi in June.
You best know why you appointed Luminista but be careful, you might be unwittingly setting her up for failure as some at Zifa House are visibly unsettled by her presence.
Why does she report to the vice-president when Jonathan Mashingaidze is the head of the secretariat? Have you created another centre of power?
I know that’s language you easily understand Cde Chiyangwa.
From the outside looking in, you appear to be slowly putting your own team in place and something tells me Mashingaidze’s days are numbered too.
Never mind your “Mashingaidze will remain chief executive for as long as I am president” propaganda; it seems to have dawned on you PC that Mash is a liability.
Poor Cuthbert Dube, bless him, agrees but he smelt the coffee way too late.
Your statements at last Wednesday’s Press briefing gave us an insight into where you will soon be steering this Zifa ship.
“As the president I have the power to bring in new people who I think have technical capabilities to enhance my image.
“I am not in a rush to fire but the staff here should know that I will bring people to assist me anytime because if I keep these people some of them may sabotage me,” you said.This coming a few days after Maxwell Takaendesa Jongwe was a masterstroke, one that must have sent a shiver down the spines of the guys still at 53 Livingstone Avenue.
But my question is, what happens between now and the time you will give the “saboteurs” the boot? Will they jump before they are pushed or they will seek to “kill you” before you pull the trigger on them?
It’s a tricky one.
And this Jongwe guy is not disappearing from the scene easily, is he? I hear some politicians called you expressing reservations about the way you handled “one of us”.
While this might not shake you, it’s a sign that due process must be followed and that timing is everything.
Jongwe can claim – and get sympathisers while at it – that he was victimised for not trusting you with the match-fixing allegations first and instead heading to the President’s Office with that vital information.
That you were one of the last people to know about the scandal must have done some harm to your ego.
But that was not the reason why you dismissed Jongwe. I know it and he knows it. but the world has to know and a statement on the matter is needed.
This one is beyond Xolisani Gwesela or Mash, explain it yourself big man.
With the Warriors not in action until June, the Limpopogate saga will continue to unfold and all eyes will be on you.
Be careful. Avoid inviting defamation lawsuits by dropping names into the match-fixing talk while investigations are still ongoing.
Has your whistleblower mentioned Kudzi Shaba or someone with a bone to chew with the player agent whispered his name into your obliging ear?
Finally, if I were to give you a mark out of 10 for the shift you have put into over the last 120 days I would give you 6,5.
The Pasuwa salary situation sees you being docked a mark as does the fact that the forensic audit hasn’t been done yet it’s the first thing you pledged to do as you campaigned for office.
The populist but unfulfilled statements like the dresses for Mighty Warriors and Pasuwa to be coach as long as you are president takes 10 percent.
Leaders don’t make such statements.Overall clumsiness also sees you being docked 0,5 points.
I look forward to hearing from you. The PR machine at your disposal should be able to craft a response for publication in next week’s edition of this paper.
Till then, God bless and all the best.
