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HARARE - Member of Parliament Temba Mliswa has slammed Zifa’s plans to venture into farming, labelling it ill-conceived, non-profitable and against the association’s core business.
Sports enthusiast Mliswa, who chairs the Sports, Arts and Culture parliamentary portfolio committee, had no kind words for Zifa president Cuthbert Dube during an indaba yesterday also attended by Sports minister Andrew Langa.
“You are also talking about farming, I am also a farmer too and to tell you the truth, currently there is no money in farming due to the liquidity crunch and also you must know that farming is not your core business,” thundered Mliswa.
Zifa is planning to go into farming as a way of raising funds for the perennially cash-strapped organisation.
Meanwhile, Dube revealed at the indaba that Zifa will soon rebrand in an effort to spruce up image and attract sponsorship.
“We need to rebrand our association, we are going to hold a meeting next month so that we can map the way forward,” Dube, who was re-elected for a second term in March, said.
“We communicated to Fifa and they are sending someone to help us in our marketing strategies and this will be for free, and we are also going into farming,” he said.
“We are also going to move our headquarters to Alexandra Park with the help of Fifa, we should also have our own building in each province.
“We are also going to take the grassroots football seriously, this is an important part in our rebranding.”
Dube added that plans were also underway for the construction of a new stadium.
The Zifa supremo, meanwhile, also reacted to calls for his resignation following the national side’s heart-breaking exit from the African Nations Cup qualifiers after losing to Tanzania in the preliminary round.
“We are worried by the performance of our national team, we gave them all the necessary resources but they fail to deliver. Some people say Cuthbert Dube must go, but am I the one who select players,” Dube said before turning to journalists:
“You can write what you want but I can only get stronger. We are going to receive $1.3 million from Fifa for this year and I need to thank Fifa for their support, which will go a long way in the development of football in this country.”
