Caps United president Farai Jere yesterday landed the Premier Soccer League (PSL) top post after he was elected chairman for the organisation, narrowly beating Triangle’s Lovemore Matikinye in an election conducted in Harare.
BY Kevin Mapasure
It was a closely-contested race where Jere claimed nine votes while Matikinye got seven after 16 clubs participated with Herentals and ZPC Kariba representatives failing to make it on time.
Jere will be deputised by Chicken Inn’s Lifa Ncube, who got the position uncontested.
The elections were conducted by a seven-member Zifa electoral committee led by Vusi Vuma.
Jere could not contain his joy just after the votes had been counted and even before Vuma had made the announcement; it was clear who had won.
The Harare businessman later expressed his delight at landing the post, at a Press conference after he addressed the PSL governors in a closed-door meeting.
“Naturally, I am happy, the governors went through what we were offering them and this is an endorsement to our manifesto,” he said.
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“It was a good race and we had gone through a good campaign. We are coming into office at a time there is renewed hope for the economy with a new government coming in. But I think going forward now our mission is to see how we can bring back the people to the stadiums to watch the teams that they love. I hope ours will be a successful tenure.”
He said that they will immediately look into ways in which they can have their own buildings that will house the PSL offices other than the current situation where they are renting office buildings.
Jere added that he has already discussed with Zifa president Philip Chiyangwa about the need to acquire land to build their own office.
“From today, we have said let’s move forward and not look backwards. We have to hit the ground running and make sure we have our own office as soon as is possible. I have already had this discussion with Chiyangwa and he can help us in that regard.”
He said that he will work to improve relations between PSL and Zifa.
“The problems we have had in the past between PSL and Zifa have hinged on the constitutions. But a constitution is a product of humans. We as the PSL should align our constitution with that of Zifa. Fighting doesn’t help anything, at the end of the day it’s the game that suffers. PSL lawyers can sit down with Zifa lawyers and both parties can agree on ways to syncronise the statues. We want football to be the winner. Right now we see Chiyangwa rising and some are waiting for his downfall. I think we can learn from him, we need to benefit from someone like him.”
He said that since he and Ncube are from an accounting background, it will help the way the PSL finances are managed.
“We have said the PSL balance sheet is not good, but since Ncube and I are from an accounting background, we will be able to improve things.”
Meanwhile, Matikinye said that he had done his best.
“I gave it my best shot but at the end of the day the numbers tell the story,” he said. “I remain a member of the team and will continue to do what I have been doing all along.”
