…3 executive members perceived to be anti-Zanu Pf forced to resign
…President ED’s bus donation takes forever to be delivered
By Staff Reporter
MASVINGO – The beautiful game of football, world over, is said to be a unifier but not in Masvingo where Masvingo United Football Club executive members were forced to resign by ruling party supporters who claimed they were the reasons behind President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s failure to deliver the bus he allegedly donated to the club about six months ago.
To cover up for the embarrassing failure to deliver the pledged bus, President Mnangagwa’s staunch supporters have since pushed out three executive members, Phillip Shumba, Omen Mafa and Collen Maboke whom they accused of being the stumbling blocks because of their alleged fight against the then Constitutional Amendment Bill (CAB#3).
The shallow reasoning and politicking, however, raised serious questions from soccer loving fans; did President Mnanagwa donate the bus or it was someone else? If yes, can President Mnangagwa a very seasoned politician holds on to the donation merely because they were some alleged opposition members in the Una-Una executive?
Lastly, can the President stoop so low to allow politics rear its ugly head in the beautiful game of football?
From the investigations by TellZim, it’s quite clear that the bus was pledged by someone else from Zanu PF, but as has become the norm, every donation is said to be from the President.
However, the failure to honour the pledge has since dragged the name of President Mnangagwa into the mud, and his supporters are desperately trying to save his face by forcing out some executive members whom they said were the reasons the President was withholding the bus donation.
Since Maboke, Shumba and Mafa have since left the club, fans can’t wait to receive the bus donation.Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Ezra Chadzamira, who was present at a function when the bus and $150k were pledged, said the bus was on its way hinting that the delay was because the bus was bought from China.
“The buses are bought from China, so it cannot be delivered there and then. It is coming and will be delivered when it arrives. That is the reason why it has not been delivered and nothing else, as people may want to say,” said Chadzamira.
He also said the cash was being delivered in batches to avoid abuse, adding that the team had already received US$65,000.
“The money is coming in batches; they received US$35,000 and another US$30,000 was delivered again. The cash is delivered at Byword Motors, that’s where they collect it from, to avoid it being abused,” said Chadzamira.
The cash is said to be disbursed through Byword Motors, owned by prominent businessman Stanley Kondongwe, who was also present when the pledge was announced, to prevent abuse.
However, Shonhai said the team had only received US$35,000 in cash so far and they have not been informed of any other disbursement to date.
“I can confirm that we have received $35 000 only and I am not aware of any other disbursements. The three executive members resigned because the supporters have demanded them to step down in their letter as they accused them to be hindering the fulfilment of the bus pledge because they represented opposition activists who were against Zanu PF,” said Shonhai.
When TellZim asked him to share the letter, Shonai said it could have been deleted from his phone.Maboke, however, said their decisions to resign were in the best interest of the club since they were said to be hindering the delivery of the donated bus.
“We represented two local members Jonah Wakurawarerwa and Jefferyson Chitando who were challenging the issue of the CAB 3 consultation venue for Masvingo District. However, the matter was twisted and we were suddenly accused of challenging CAB 3, whereas the matter before the courts was about the venue not being central.
“I have never heard any person from Zanu PF saying my presence in the team was hindering development. This is only coming from a few people within the executive. I love Una-Una very much so I thought it was in the best interest of the club for me to resign,” Maboke added.
Shumba, when contacted, said he was busy and asked the reporter to get in touch on Monday for a proper discussion. TellZim will engage him on the said day to hear his side of the story.
Una-Una’s new spokesperson, Angeline Mikiri, said the team has accepted the trio’s resignations and claimed that things were taking shape at the club.
“Things are taking shape and despite that some left, the team has to move forward, and that is what we are doing. We have a new coach who is currently training with the team, and we hope to finish in a better position,” said Mikiri.
It only took Wicknell Chivayo about three weeks to deliver a state of the art bus to Dynamos Football Club, following a request by a Dembare fan.
For Una-Una, its now about six months and the fans are still counting, and they are not certain whether the bus pledged will be delivered or not.
This only points to one reasonable conclusion that the bus was not pledged by Mnangagwa, but someone else because the President can never be so petty that he would hold on to a donation simply because there are dissent voices in the executive.
Mnangagwa has worked with opposition members in Parliament for decades and to claim that he failed to tolerate three executive members in Una-Una executive is a white lie.
