The ManicaPost
ESTEEMED followers of the game of football, thank you for finding time for interaction.
Congratulations are in order to ZIFA president, Philip Chiyangwa, for engineering the dethronement of erstwhile CAF president, Issa Hayatou and ushering in the new boss, Ahmad Ahmad.
Chiyangwa is rightly taking the kudos, which he earned anyway, as the mastermind who ensured that Hayatou finally fell, bringing his reign of almost three decades to an end.
But while we immerse ourselves in those celebrations, just what does this victory mean for Zimbabwe, the Southern Africa bloc and Africa as a whole?
On the whole, the change in leadership at CAF has been hailed and described by progressive followers of the game as a welcome and positive development.
Hayatou is gone and no-one will miss him, for his ouster was good riddance. And so should the vices which blighted the African game, all occurring on his watch and carrying his blessings, follow him because for most of his reign the Cameroonian ruled with some vindictiveness that saw perceived enemies ruthlessly punished in a brazen manner.
While the deposed Hayatou had clearly overstayed in power – assuming power at a time when Warriors’ skipper Willard Katsande was hardly our of his diapers and has grown up to captain our national team – the incumbent Ahmad needs to hit the ground running in implementing his election promises so he can create an endearing and enduring legacy.
Now African football is hoping for a new beginning, one that will bring holistic and cross-cutting change; where football is the biggest winner.
Where Hayatou created a vicious cycle, Ahmad must strive for a virtuous circle.
Ahmad’s coming into office is a new and different game just kicking off and the desire of many would be to see crucial goals being scored in what this new administration has set out to achieve.
While avoiding the pitfalls that made Hayatou such an unpopular figure, Ahmad’s lofty win should bring hefty benefits to the game through meaningful development of the game premised on transparency, good corporate governance and accountability that steers it to growth.
Corporate partnerships that our game badly needs should also be cultivated and sustained.
Rights to be hosts of AFCON, which had hitherto been a hugely Francophone affair or concentrated in west or north Africa to the exclusion of much of the rest of Africa, should be evenly spread across the entire continent.
As has been in word during Ahmad’s campaign messages, which echoed with restoring membership’s faith in the confederation, now let it be in deed.
For Chiyangwa, this victory, as he gallivanted on the campaign trail as Ahmed’s campaign manager, gets his work further cut out. Just as he has been the kingmaker in bringing change at the helm of CAF, our sincere hope is that Captain Fiasco also be the game changer of our local and regional game especially.
Now that the COSAFA chief has become some football force of sorts after orchestrating Ahmad’s ascendancy into the most powerful position in African football, would Chiyangwa be unable to use his influence to organise some high profile international friendly matches for our national teams as we prepare to participate in the AFCON 2019 campaign?
We trust that the ZIFA boss created contacts and established networks he can explore and exploit in order to pursue and champion the further development of our own game.
The Chiyangwa-Ahmad relationship should be a winning combination, really, that can take our game far.
Let this change in CAF leadership not be a vain event, but a fruitful process that gives a new life, face, taste, shape and meaning to the game.
It’s Game On, Play On!
Feedback:
In a show of good times for CAPS United, every part of the country has green vegetation after a good rain season. I do not support the Green Machine, but this past Sunday my blood was “green.”
This is sweet news for our football. No one fights for the Motherland to lose; no one represents us to fail. This sweet victory atones for the Warriors’ early exit at AFCON 2017 in Gabon. We are now in the basket at the group stages and CAPS United have made us proud. – Richard Mahuhushe Chauke.
(I am) disappointed by Ngezi’s fall. They wasted chances, which came to haunt them. A game is played over 90 minutes, which seems long but proves short in a desert result. I like teams which go on the attack from the first whistle. After all, football is about scoring goals and displaying skills and styles when you are home and dry. – Crispen Tendai Masenhu.
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