Newsday
By Wellington Toni
28 January 2011
There will be no financial assistance for the senior national soccer team, the Warriors, for the African Nations Championships (Chan) finals as the Ministry of Education, Art, Sport and Culture was not allocated any funding for the trip following revelations that $300 000 is needed for the tournament.
The Warriors having been “living in hell†at a city lodge as they prepare for the second edition of the Chan finals that take place in Sudan from February 4-25.
The squad made up of 23 players went on strike on Monday demanding allowances for two weeks, forcing the technical team to cancel training.
They resumed preparations on Tuesday after the Zifa board scrounged for funds to cover their allowances.
Education, Art, Sport and Culture minister David Coltart and Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) director-general Charles Nhemachena on Thursday painted a grim picture over the trip, but promised to “scrape the empty barrel†to raise funds for the trip.
Said Coltart: “Just this afternoon (Thursday), I received a letter from Zifa demanding $300 000 for the trip and we have 24 hours to raise that while the total budget for the whole Ministry for Sports administration for 2011 is $800 000.
“The allocation is completely inadequate and I will make presentations to the Ministry of Finance on that. Finance Minister Biti Tendai has insufficient resources to meet all expenditure and it should be understood that our country is not as rich as it used to be.
“I have already instructed the permanent secretary Stephen Mahere to go through the budget allocation and see if any funds could be re-allocated for the trip and also the principal director Paul Damasane to look into our budget and see if we can help.
“But we cannot perform miracles. There are hardly any resources for sport and that is the dilemma that faces me and Biti. The biggest question is where is the money going to come from? In the past, there was no problem because money was just printed; now that can’t be done anymore.â€
He added: “It will be tragic for the national team if they fail to travel. They are a good team and have been performing well. We expect them to do exceptionally well, but we do not know where the money will come from, which I deeply regret.
“It actually undermines the game of football.â€
It was also established on Thursday that Mashingaidze met with principal director responsible for sports Damasane yesterday.
Mashingaidze confirmed he was in a meeting when called on Thursday, but was unavailable later to shed light on the proceedings.
Nhemachena echoed his boss’s sentiments.
“There was no allocation for the Warriors, clubs in the Champions League, Youth and Paralympic Games or even the All-Africa Games, so we can only appeal for funding.
“We have received a request from Zifa for Chan, Afcon 2012 matches and other games, but all those are not provided for in the National Budget.
“So we will be submitting our appeal for funding to the ministry. For now, there is basically nothing we can assist with in terms of funds.â€
In other countries, governments invest in sport to justify their demand for results unlike in Zimbabwe where acting head coach Madinda Ndlovu will have to squeeze results from a rock using hungry personnel.
In 2009, when the SRC was allocated $500 000, the Malawi Sports Commission allocated the same amount to netball and now they are one of the best in Africa.
That same year, the Botswana National Sports Council received $9,2 million for sports.
Only the Mighty Warriors seem to be lucky: they received $30 000 from President Robert Mugabe when they played South Africa in an international friendly match on December 22 in Harare, have managed raised $80 000 through their fundraising initiatives and will be travelling to Germany in July for a training camp.