ONE thing that sports lovers in the country should be pleased about is that the country’s President is a keen follower.
He follows tennis, cricket and the most popular sport, football and this week shocked many when he laughed at Premiership side Caps United for losing to FC Platinum on two consecutive games with their player scoring an own goal.

When he was speaking after lighting the torch for the upcoming African Union Sports Council Region Five Under-20 Youth Games at State House on Thursday, he said participants should avoid own goals like Caps United.

“To the participants, the Games will provide affirmation of empowerment at both personal and collective level. Apart from enhancing health, wellness and quality life, participation in these Games also develops skills such as team work, goal getting and the pursuit of excellence. Goal getting, we must shoot accurately. The ball must always be shot into the net, not into your own net…Caps, Caps what did you do? My boys support Caps. They lost by own goal score, just the one against the team they were playing, sad. It was one (zero) win by the team through the own goal. Aaa…kana mudzimai haakubikire sadza musi wacho (even your wife won’t cook for you on that day).”

The President revealed earlier that his sons, Robert (Jnr) and Bellarmine Chatunga are Caps United supporters, and at one time even talked about a football match he was watching the previous night on television. And by the way, he was given a life membership card by Bulawayo giants Highlanders.

It is a pity that our beloved Warriors have failed to conquer in major tournaments to make our President walk with pride when the national team is discussed. Nonetheless, he has offered his support on numerous occasions, giving them attention despite his busy schedule to host them at the State House when going for major tournaments like the African Cup of Nations, with the Ministry of Local Government pledging support in form of housing stands as winning incentives. And during the hyper inflation era, the Warriors were kept afloat being able to fulfil international assignments through government support via some state institutions in most cases.

The own goal lesson should therefore spur Zifa to put their house in order, aware that even the highest office in the land is watching them.

Taking into account the bad publicity that has been associated with Zifa, with a lot of questions regarding corporate governance being raised, it is obvious that the President supported the idea of launching a bid to host the 2017 African Cup of Nations tournament simply for the love of the game, and knowing that the majority of Zimbabweans are football lovers, and in addition, the benefits that such an event will bring to the country.

The national association put together a bid to host the tournament as a replacement to Libya, who were deemed unsuitable due to political tension. Zimbabwe is among a number of countries interested in replacing Libya which include neighbours Zambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Algeria and Morocco, among others.

While the country has not hosted a tournament of such magnitude, there is no doubt that the country is blessed with some of the best brains in Africa who if given a chance, would organise a splendid tournament. When the country was given the right to host the tournament in 2000, the right was taken away after Zifa failed to get government backing in terms of infrastructural development, among other things.

Now the President has put his weight behind the bid, with the Ministry of Sports, Arts and Culture and the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry playing a leading role.

Sports Minister Andrew Langa said after Libya withdrew from hosting the tournament due to security concerns in that country they saw it as an opportunity to launch a bid. He added that they had already engaged neighbouring countries in particular Zambia with a view to co-hosting the tournament.

“We met His Excellency President Robert Mugabe and he gave us the nod. We saw it desirous to host the 2017 African Cup of Nations following the withdrawal of Libya to host the tournament on account of security concerns. Libya who have been an all weather friend of Zimbabwe could be engaged by Zimbabwe to maintain and retain their tournament presence by financially and materially endorsing and supporting Zimbabwe’s bid to replace them and that engagement can be done at government as well as football levels,” Langa said.

Zambia has, however, already submitted its bid to host the 2019 edition. Negotiations though have begun at government level.

“We are still waiting for the outcome from Zambia. If they win the right to host the 2019 edition then we will engage other neighbouring countries like Mozambique. Zambia and Zimbabwe share a lot in terms of the history of the Bantu people who are found on both sides of the Zambezi river. To crown it all the two southern African countries co-hosted the best ever UNWTO Conference in 2013 and the two countries need to exploit the legacy projects arising from co-hosting the UNWTO.

“Zimbabwe would have preferred to go it alone but we find ourselves hamstrung by the Confederation of African Football’s Article 32 of the Statutes governing the application which requires that:

“Any member association proposing its country for the organisation of the African Cup of Nations must have organised the final tournament of at least one of the following competitions:

a) The 2000 African Nations Championships
b) The Under-20 African Championships
c) The Under-17 African Championships
d) The African Women Football Championships
e) The Under-23 African Championships

Zimbabwe has previously submitted bids without success, for the following Continental and other championships:

a) The African Cup of Nations — which was awarded at the eleventh hour to Ghana and Nigeria
b) The 2010 African Cup of Nations — which was won by Angola.
c) The 2015 Fifa Women’s World Cup which was won by Canada.

“Zimbabwe’s bids were seriously weakened as we did not have the required letters of guarantee from the head of state,” said Langa.

While the country is reeling under economic challenges, it does not stop us from hosting major continental events which will bring a positive change to the lives of ordinary people. There are a lot of benefits from such an event, with tourism set to benefit from about 40,000 visitors expected. This means tourism, which the government has identified as having the potential to boost the economy, will experience an influx of visitors.

Experts believe that soccer lovers who will be coming are going to visit some of the country’s well-known tourist destinations in between the soccer matches they prefer to watch. Apart from boosting tourism, a lot of jobs are going to be created in various sectors before and during the tournament. May our prayers be answered.

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