The Sunday Mail
Leslie Gwindi
I’M absolutely confident I will win the Zifa presidential elections on December 5. Football will win these elections, the councilors are very clear on that.
Leslie Gwindi
You see this is not some kind of a joke, I hear people talking aboutbeing handsome but this is not a beauty contest.
The councilors started on a good footing by looking at and revoking the mandate of Cuthbert Dube, that was an
outcry from them that we needed reform in this thing.
It’s very sad that they inherited all the crimes that the institutionis guilty of when they could not change what was happening.
But they plucked the courage to revoke his mandate and we need to help them onthe road to reform.
Fifa is currently on a road to reform as well.
Most of the councilors were coming to me during the Dube era saying we took the wrong turn and I have no doubt they are correcting this.
Don’t ever make a mistake of thinking the councilors are foolish.
We have gone the route of people who say they have money and they will finance football before but it has not worked. We voted Dube in on that strength, we are not looking for a donor here.
My campaign is set on building an institution. An institution that looks after itself, that is credible and appeals for assistance.
The belief in our campaign is very simple, we want to build a campaignon basic tenants, tenants of good governance.
This necessarily means that we observe the rules and regulations of the constitution and all those statutes we have extracted from there. In other words for us to fulfill the conditions of good governance, we must observe our constitution.
A case in point is what Article 32(a) says, it’s very specific on who qualifies to be Zifa president and who doesn’t.
One of the issues mentioned there is the minimum of five years requirement in the administration of football and we know some of the candidates don’t qualify. Then there is an issue that has to do with one’s residence status, those issues must be looked into and the vetting committee must exact them across the board. That is where in my view integrity, accountability and honest starts from. If we are credible, if we comply with our constitution we can then appeal to the corporate world.
I hear a lot of people talk about soccer being a big business but it can never be a big business if treated and managed like a tuck-shop in the manner that it is today.
And that is why some of us have presented their credentials and said, ‘I have been secretary general of the Premier Soccer League, I have been chairman of a club and have not in anyway been mentioned as having worked against the State unlike others.’
We want to build an institution and record must show one is capable, we are talking about football administration here and I am one person who is proud of my record.
I was part of the team that went to the Champions League final with Dynamos, I was part of the team that successfully ran PSL and reformed it.
My record as a football administrator is well known, it’s available and subject to scrutiny. But other people’s records in the areas of business, where they say they are specialists, are sad to talk about.
The number one problem at Zifa is the issue of credibility. It’s very critical, the association has to go back to the constitution and do what is expected, you can’t flout your own rules and hope to be taken as a serious organisation.We need to tackle the debt, and my team is looking at three options to liquidate that debt with the concurrence of the creditors. We are looking at three credible options which we can’t talk about now because they have to be presented to council immediately after the elections and council will pick the best options.
Then we come to the issue of administration, have we spread the game to the lower levels? We need to respect the provincial structures, the regions and that chain is nonexistent.
We need to expand the outreach through schools, through creation of academies and capturing the essence of ‘boozers football’ because what that does is spread the awareness of football and the excitement of the sport.
It’s my dream that football be played in every corner of the country, the way cricket is played in Mumbai, New Delhi and all those rural areas in India.
Now that the Warriors are out of 2018 World Cup, this is the time to build our Under-23 and all the junior teams to bring the chain right up to the seniors. That chain must be put in place now and this is the best time to do that, because come 2022 we must have a national team built from a clear development program.
The cause of our current problems is purely administrative. If you don’t have a sound administration you will never get anything right, don’t worry about the money. Cuthbert had lots of it.
We want a sound administration that’s why you will see the most successful national team was never administered by millionaires and you never saw a chairman or president handing out cash, and that’s my
experience at Dynamos, at the Premier Soccer League and at Harare City.
Look at the team I left at Harare City , which has won the Chibuku Super Cup and almost won the national league in their debut season, if you look at the majority of their contracts three quarters of them I signed them.
I have not entered in any alliances prior to the election simply because it’s up to council to make a decision.
From what I have seen those seeking positions in the board are men of great experience and I want to work with the best team there is.
I know the councilors are capable of choosing the best team.
Zifa presidential aspirant Leslie Gwindi spoke to The Sunday Mail Sports Reporter Ishemunyoro Chingwere in Harare on Wednesday 11 November, 2015
“I am not related to Chiyangwa”
Ishemunyoro Chingwere
ZIFA presidential aspirant Leslie Gwindi has dismissed claims by fellow presidential candidate Philip Chiyangwa that the two are related.
Last weekend, Chiyangwa told this publication that the former Harare City chairman was his nephew.
The claim saw the social media awash with speculation that Gwindi might be convinced into withdrawing his candidature and support his uncle out of “respect”.
But Gwindi has shot back saying the maverick businessman had misconstrued his respect.
“Come on, don’t tell me you are listening to that please, there is absolutely nothing like that,” he said.
“I am not related to him even by the wildest of imagination. I just address him as sekuru (uncle) out of respect and surely that is not something to be taken seriously.”
Chiyangwa was last week quoted as saying: “Gwindi is talking and hiding, I am coming from Paul Gundani’s funeral and he wasn’t there but he claims to be the football man.
“Maybe he didn’t have money for fuel but look he is my relative, muzukuru wangu (he is a nephew of mine), he should have called me and I would have gladly assisted him.”
