Castle Lager Premier Soccer League club Herentals College’s owner Innocent Benza has slammed the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) Normalisation Committee (NC) led by Chairman Lincoln Mutasa for his alleged “lack of interest in and basic knowledge about football”.
Benza, who is also the Member of Parliament for Mutasa Central (ZANU PF), said Mutasa “must do the noble thing and resign for the good of the game”.
He made the remarks after Mutasa, NC member Nyasha Sanyamandwe and ZIFA chief executive officer Yvonne Mapika Manwa appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Sports and Recreation on Thursday in Harare.
The trio failed to provide convincing responses to the questions they were asked by the sports committee in line with their line of duty and basic football knowledge.
Mutasa revealed he has yet to attend a local league match one year into office since their appointment by FIFA in July 2023, while Sanyamandwe said she had no prior football experience before her appointment to the NC.
Addressing reporters after the meeting, Benza, who is a member of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Sports and Recreation, said Mutasa “must resign” to “save” Zimbabwean football. Said Benza (via Nehanda Radio):
The lack of interest in football from someone claiming to be a ZIFA Normalisation Committee chairman, and the lack of knowledge is also worrisome, also the ZIFA committee represented here, lacked the basic knowledge of football.
This is the reason why we are saying he (Mutasa) must do the noble thing and resign for the good of the game.
We are not forcing him to resign but we are saying through his reasoning, he must just hand in his resignation to save Zimbabwean football.
We are lagging not because we don’t have the facilities or football in Zimbabwe but simply because the person at the front lacks interest and he expressed clearly in front of everyone that he is too busy to come to even watch football, we don’t know what he will be doing there.
More: Pindula News