The Herald
By Farirai Machivenyika
14 June 2012
Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, David Coltart, has criticised Zifa’s treatment of Warriors’ stars — Knowledge Musona and Ovidy Karuru — following their alleged meeting with Henrietta Rushwaya in Harare on Tuesday.
Coltart said the negative publicity generated by the way Zifa handled the case was unwarranted. He said this during the House of Assembly question and answer session yesterday. Coltart said the Zifa were failing to manage their employees to act responsibly.
He however, expressed concern in the manner in which charges against Rushwaya were dropped.
“I was concerned about charges being dropped so readily and I have not heard an explanation as the minister,†he said.
He also called on Zifa to expedite its investigations into the Asiagate match fixing scandal is it was affecting the local game.
“They must do so (investigations) with greater haste so that we know where we stand with particular coaches and particular players and that those involved in match-fixing will have no place in our football,†he said.
The poor performances by the national team have been a cause for concern to the nation with many blaming Zifa for failing to create an enabling environment for the national team to succeed.
Coltart also hit out at politicians alleging that they had contributed to the demise of local football standards. He was responding to a question by Mhondoro-Ngezi MP Bright Matonga on what Government was doing to turn around the fortunes of local football that has been in the doldrums for some time now.
The national senior men’s soccer team has also failed to win any of their three matches for the Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup qualifiers. There is far too much politics in Zimbabwe’s football and this has been a problem for many, many years.
“We will not perform in football until we remove politics. All political parties must stay away from Zifa,†Coltart said.