The Sunday Mail
Makomborero Mutimukulu Sports Editor
Day 210 of the Phillip Chiyangwa era came and went yesterday with Fifa backing the Zifa president amid the commotion triggered by a rash decision to dissolve and recreate the local football governing body as the National Football Association of Zimbabwe. As various figures tussle for control of Zimbabwean soccer, the world mother body has come out saying Big Phil is their man.
“For the time being Fifa recognises Zifa and Mr Chiyangwa,” said Fifa media relations officer David Noemia in statement to this publication. Fifa’s stance leaves Francis Zimunya and Chris Sambo in the cold – at least for now – as they have been claiming to be in charge of Zifa. The pair has tried to seize control of Zifa assets, prompting Police intervention. With a lot on his plate, Chiyangwa was yesterday unaware that he had clocked 210 days in office.
“Its 210 days already? Being Zifa president has absorbed me, there is so much to do in very little time,” he said from France where is watching the Euro 2016 finals. “But it’s encouraging to hear that Fifa have reiterated that I am the leader, the bona fide leader of the football association in Zimbabwe, because there are some criminals who have been trying to bring our game into disrepute.
“I cannot stand here and say I have done well because it’s up to the people to judge, up to you guys the media as well to scrutinise but one thing I can say is I have tried my best.” Chiyangwa came into office on December 5, 2015 amid promises to rebuild, restore and reposition local football.
He anchored his manifesto on Nehemiah 2:17, which reads: “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer reproach.”
And he interpreted it thus: “You see the distress that we are in, how Zifa lies in ruins and its football are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Zifa that Zimbabwe may no longer miss the World Cup.”
And with over 200 days having passed since Chiyangwa bagged the biggest job that Zimbabwean football can offer, Nehemiah 2:17 gives the nation a compass with which to judge how the businessman and politician has fared thus far.
He has scored some significant success with the Warriors heading for Afcon 2017 in Gabon, the Mighty Warriors on their way to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, and the junior national teams finally seeing some action.
However, the dark cloud created by the Zifa/Nafaz debacle has the football fraternity worried and it all boils down to the Phillip Chiyangwa way of doing business – brash, abrasive and cocky.
That is Phillip Chiyangwa for you. We all knew there would be drama when he came into office on December 5. He even warned us in his glossy manifesto. “I intend to be radical and take drastic but urgent steps to a point where we actually need a change of name. Just the mention of Zifa brings no goodwill nor the desire to associate with it,” said Chiyangwa prior to his election.
On the whole, 210 days of Big Phil have not been an unmitigated disaster; he can claim success with a straight face but the man and his team could have spared us the fiasco of trying to fire Kallisto Pasuwa as well as this latest Nafaz debacle.
