Gumede makes U-turn on football departure BARELY a year after declaring he was ready to quit football, Zifa vice-president, Ndumiso Gumede, has made a dramatic U-turn saying he will seek another term in office next year. After returning from a Fifa Congress which was held in Mauritius last week, Gumede, a member of one of the Confederation of African Football disciplinary committees, came back a changed man. The veteran administrator yesterday said that the position he clinched in one of the Caf committees influenced his change of heart. “Initially I had said I will not be seeking another term but after the confidence that Caf has shown in appointing me to one of its committees I think it will be folly for me to move away from such a responsibility. For this reason, I have had to reluctantly change my mind to seek another term and I don’t think another four years will kill me. “Actually my standing for another term depends on the electorate who will decide whether they want me to continue or not,” Gumede said. In an exclusive interview with Chronicle Sport on 25 October 2012 at his home in the Inyathi Communal Lands, Gumede made a bold declaration that he would not seek re-election when his term expires in 2014. He said returning to soccer administration was something he had done reluctantly in 2010. Then, the seasoned administrator said: “I thought after being honoured by the City of Bulawayo in 2005 when I was bestowed with a Civic Honour, I did not need to come back to soccer lest I obliterate all the good work I have done for soccer and arts. But I found myself cornered by people who felt I could still be of service to the game and help Zifa move forward. “I blame myself for accepting to come back after this term I will not be involved in soccer at a higher level.” Gumede said he has not had a glorious time in office as they were forced to deal with cleaning Zimbabwean football which had taken a nosedive due to the Asiagate scandal. During their investigations of the Asiagate, Gumede at one time was forced to travel to Harare disguised as a woman after some of the Asiagate masterminds had threatened to humiliate and get him arrested. However, he is not regretting the more than three years that the present Zifa board has spent trying to resolve the Asiagate issue and other matters. The Central Region match-fixing saga saw two Zifa board members Gift Banda and Patrick Hokonya being suspended from football activities after retired referee Cosmas Nyoni had fingered them in the scam. Nyoni was also suspended alongside the Zimbabwe Referees Committee (ZRC) vice-chairperson Samukeliso Silengane. Gumede said all the work that they have put in plugging out the rot in football would be realised long after they were gone. He said they prided themselves as a board in that they managed to win world football governing body, Fifa’s trust which led to funds being released for the completion of the Zifa Village among other projects. “We have spent a two years trying to clean our soccer and that has somehow slowed down the developmental aspect. However, even during the trying times that we faced cleaning our football and plugging out unruly elements that had dragged down Zimbabwean soccer we managed to win back Fifa’s trust. Right now, as I speak to you Fifa rewarded Zifa for its commendable work at the Zifa Village by putting all-weather Astroturf because of the confidence they have in this Zifa board. “All the work we have done in cleaning the sport will be seen maybe in three to four years time or even when we have left Zifa,” said Gumede. The former Zifa chief executive officer and Highlanders chairman also spoke about his board’s failures including the delay in finalising Centralgate. “In my humble opinion some of the regrets that we have as a board is that we have not made as much progress as we had envisaged when we promised a turnaround of Zifa’s fortunes in 2010 but in fact we are worse off. We didn’t know about Asiagate and its implications which are still haunting us. How everyone wishes that the Asiagate issue ends so that we focus on the future. “We have also had to make unpopular but difficult decisions like disbanding the national team which in the process victimised innocent people. But the fact that we were not sure then who the culprits involved in under hand dealings were and from my school of thought zonelwa mvu inye. As a board besides administration we have an obligation to protect our soccer and I can say the above three quantify the failures we made,” said Gumede. Another the reason believed to have influenced Gumede is that Zifa president Cuthbert Dube has said he would love another term with Gumede considered by many as his trusted lieutenant.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 08:03:17 +0000