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LAST week I received a season’s greeting message from former Zimbabwe Saints defender Eddie Mukahanana. We then started to chat in the social media, talking about this and that. But the most important issue he raised was that he wished to contribute to the revival of his boyhood club Zimbabwe Saints, a club he played for from juniors until he broke into the first team when he was still a student at St Columbus.

It was sweet music to hear that there are many young able people out there whose hearts are still with Zimbabwe Saints, whose hearts are still with Bulawayo. In most cases, when people leave the country, they find new homes, new friends, new associates and even new hobbies and habits. Some even forget their parents as they find spiritual mothers and fathers where ever they are based, but Mukahanana, who is busy with junior football development in the United States, still believes one day he will come back and help his former club.

He said was excited with news that there are moves to revive the club since it was banished from the Zifa Southern Region Division One league last year for failure to pay affiliation fees, and the end result being that Saints should start from zero, buy a franchise in Division One or go to Division Two or even Three and start from there.

The short of it is that Saints must rise from the ashes, but there are a number of issues that those who have decided to dedicate their energies to its revival must sort out before they step out to tell the world that Saints are on the road to recovery. The biggest challenge, however, not peculiar to Saints, is the issue of funding. All sporting organisations are affected by lack of funding and even Highlanders and Dynamos who in recent years enjoyed support from BancABC have suddenly found themselves with reduced funding as the economic climate continues to bite.

But what has been peculiar to Saints of late has been failure to maintain order in their house. We keep getting press statements flying from all directions and that is not a good sign for people who want to convince the world that they are serious about playing professional football again. Saints are the second oldest club in the country after Highlanders, after having been formed in 1931, and it therefore goes without saying that some myths and some folklore will follow the club. Folk tales have it that when one executive member of the club was fired from his post, he was approached by the new office bearers who wanted club books so that they know who are members and who are the players in the club. And guess what? The outgoing executive member told them that books were found at Kingstones stores!

Like I said, that is just folktale, but it goes a little further to add to the madhouse tag the club has been given for some time. The media has been awash with stories that a board of trustees has been formed, led by former club chairman and Zifa boss Vincent Pamire, which was instituted in September and includes other big Saints names like Felix Dzumbunu, Martin Mabvira, Roger Russell, Nobert Sebastian, Charles Chiponda, Never Nduru, Godfrey Mashayanhaya, Musekiwa Kumbula, Winston Babbage and former Quelaton director Tawanda Ruzive.

When everyone was looking at the direction the club will take, Ruzive was quoted in our sister paper, Sunday News saying the steering committee which replaced the executive, led by Gibson Homela which was in charge when the club was fired from the league has been dissolved, saying a meeting was held recently where club members said they wanted only one centre of power, which would be the board of trustees.

That was to spark some debate, with a member of the steering committee, Caleb Sengu, hitting back and telling the Sunday News that the “Ruzive story” was misleading, as the board was only given powers to revive the club’s structures, and the steering committee was still in place overseeing all the processes.

“Following the story you published last week people have been calling me asking what’s going on and why we’ve been dissolved but that’s not true and I want to set the record straight on the issue.

“The steering committee that’s led by Gibson Homela was put in place by members following the club’s ejection from Division One in an effort to revitalise our club and bring it back to its feet. Our mandate is to create the board of trustees, substantive executive and supporters committee, we began with the former and are still to create others.

“I think the mandate of trustees is quite clear, their role is mainly to revive the club house and source funding for the club. For them to be said to have been assigned to run the club is wrong and it would be against the club’s constitution.”

He added that three quarters of the trustees were not in office when the steering committee was formed hence they might not be fully aware of the roles of the different organs and that some overzealous members were now pushing for the ouster of the steering committee when it was still to fulfil its mandate.

These are some of the issues, small as they might appear, that end up giving an impression that the whole drive is wrapped in confusion. It is therefore important that the left hand knows what the right hand is doing so that they can complement each other, and the same goes for the Saints board of trustees and the steering committee.

Zimbabweans no doubt want the return of Saints, as it has a rich history which can not be wished away just like that—two titles in 1977 and 1988, four major trophies in 1977, 1979 and 1987, two Independence trophies in 1989 and 1998 and one appearance in the continental African Champions League in 1989 is no mean achievement.

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