The Sunday Mail
Tinashe Kusema
ADMIRE Masenda might not be in a hurry to jot down or commit to anything when his tenure with the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee (ZOC) ends in April next year, but the outgoing president remains adamant the decision to step down is the right call.
In fact, the 57-year-old seasoned administrator believes the decision not to run for re-election was a no-brainer.
“There is no surprise here, but rather there has been an expectation within the sports fraternity in general and among my colleagues here at ZOC that this will indeed be my last term of office,” said Masenda, explaining the events that brought him to the decision.
“We go back maybe 2009 when the whole ‘term limits’ discussion — as a means of facilitating renewal and change in leadership — began.
“It carried on to 2013, where it began to crystallise, and as the discussion was ongoing, you could also sense agitation from within member federations who felt that the leadership was locked in and we were almost like a cartel where we kept each other within the organisation,” he said.
The defining moment came during that electoral year.
“I was challenged by my vice president Thabani (Gonye) in 2013, and inasmuch as that was healthy, there is a feeling that when one runs for an election and defeats a subordinate, it can be hard to work together with them after that.
“It takes a lot of maturity to let bygones be bygones, and Thabani and I were fortunate enough to do just that in the best interests of the organisation, but other people might not,” he said.
It was around that time that the idea of amending the constitution to limit terms clicked with Masenda and the discussions themselves gathering momentum.
The amendment to eight-year term limits did come around 2018.
Masenda, however, opted not to use a loophole that could allow him to run again next year, and he is at peace with that.
Next year he will leave ZOC, which he has served for 21 years.
“The change in the constitution came in 2018, and if I wanted to run again, I still could as the change is progressive,” said Masenda.
“The way I see it is that 14 years is time enough to have taken the organisation in a certain direction, and I think beyond that one would probably be not adding any value.
“That being said, I wish to say that it has been an amazing journey. I started off as a sportsman, became a sports administrator and thereafter I then moved to ZOC, which I served as a board member and then president.
“The experience and exposure I have had through ZOC is something that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I have been to places many can never dream of visiting, whether it be Seoul, Moscow, Sochi, Togo, the UK, Australia and Argentina, and met some of the biggest personalities.
“I have met presidents, kings and princesses of countries, with the likes of Tyson Gay, Ronaldinho and Kobe Bryant being my favourites,” he said.
Under his stewardship, ZOC is credited for many things, top of which is the construction of ZOC offices.
Half of the country’s Olympic medal haul also came during his tenure.
But his desire is to leave a legacy of good corporate governance.
“For me, in terms of legacy, I hope that we are remembered for good corporate governance, and it is my belief that we were able to achieve that,” he said.
“We were able to set the local gold standard of how an organisation, sports or otherwise, should be run.
“In the time we have been in office, we have been scandal-free, we have been able to execute our mandate of taking people (athletes) that would have qualified for the Olympics to the games and back without issues.
“In the time I have been president, we won four of the eight medals that Zimbabwe has at Olympic level. Yes, we did not compete, but the fact is that as an organisation you also have to play a part.
“We can never take away from Honourable Minister Kirsty Coventry’s achievements, hard work and talent, but at the same token, we
had to work with her and give her the right support for her to achieve what she achieved in Beijing.
“If we were dogged with politics and issues, then that would have been a distraction, but we made sure that she got all the help and support she needed, whether it be scholarship schemes, funding and so on.
“Aside from that, every year you come to the general assembly you are assured of a set of audited accounts by a certified firm that is approved by both the SRC (Sports and Recreation Commission) and IOC, and you will get a comprehensive report of activities that the committee has done.
“We are used by the IOC as model NOC for countries and periodically have interns attached to us for three weeks to three months so that they see how we do things and learn.
“We were also able to construct ZOC offices during my tenure, which have saved us a lot of money in rentals over the years and helped us get a place we can call home,” he said.
