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Dingilizwe Ntuli Sports Editor
ZIFA communications manager Xolisani Gwesela gave thousands of fans that thronged Barbourfields Stadium on Sunday to cheer on the Warriors against Lesotho a glimpse into the multiple bungling trends that have become associated with the association. As the two teams lined-up for the playing of the national anthems ahead of their African Nations Championship qualifier, Gwesela rightly asked fans to stand up for the anthem of Lesotho.

At that stage, everything was unfolding well as the Lesotho players patriotically placed their right hands on their hearts to sing Lesotho fatse la bontat’a rona (Lesotho, land of our Fathers) until Gwesela chose to introduce some Zifa ineptitude. “Thank you, that was the national anthem of Lesotho, and now to the national anthem of Zimbabwe,” Gwesela’s voice boomed from the speakers.

The only problem was that the Lesotho national anthem was not over yet and Gwesela’s inexplicable announcement left the Basotho players buffled and probably angry that their hosts had undermined them by disturbing their national anthem. Every national anthem evokes some sense of patriotism, hegemony and pride among that country’s populace and Gwesela’s foul-up and appalling ignorance of the significance of a country’s national anthem displayed monumental foolishness.

The Basotho players were left utterly dismayed and looked confused as they did not know what to do. In typical Zifa fashion, there was no apology whatsoever from Gwesela about the boob leaving players and fans embarrassed. Needless to say things didn’t improve on the pitch either for Lesotho as they succumbed to a 3-1 defeat leaving them with a mountain to climb in Maseru this Saturday.

The circus did not end with the bungling of the Lesotho anthem as there was to be another mishap in the Zimbabwe anthem. After the first stanza of our national anthem, the Warriors pulled their hands off their hearts and clapped, with some doing some warm-up jumps, before realising that the anthem was continuing.

The anthem abruptly ended on the second stanza leaving the players and fans even more confused as they know that our anthem is three stanzas long, and when the shorter version is not used, the full anthem is played. The Warriors did not know what to do and remained with their hands on their hearts until they were sure that their anthem was not going to continue.

The whole ugly episode exposed Zifa’s shoddy preparations. Had they taken time to prepare for this match, Gwesela would have known how long the Lesotho national anthem is and when it ends. The Warriors would also have been told which version of our national anthem would be played, the shorter or full version — but in this case, neither was played; maybe it was the Zifa version, since it brought confusion and shame.