By Tatenda Gondo
Nine days before the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee (ZOC) Executive elections, and for the first time in a long while, I’ve found the resolve to speak frankly about what’s unfolding.
In all my years covering Zimbabwean sport, I’ve never witnessed such an inflated list of nominees over 20 individuals competing for just 15 positions. This is unprecedented. But let’s not mistake numbers for progress. The sudden flood of interest is not rooted in a desire to uplift Zimbabwean sport. Instead, it reeks of opportunism a gold rush driven, perhaps, by the rising global profile of Kirsty Coventry within the International Olympic Committee.
It’s telling that several of the candidates are brazenly contesting in multiple categories gunning for both Vice President and Board Member seats. This isn’t strategic leadership; it’s naked greed. And in most cases, the individuals doubling up are the same career administrators who have presided over stagnation, mediocrity, and in some cases, total collapse within their respective sport codes.
These are people who’ve clung to power for over a decade, offering nothing but recycled slogans and empty promises, while their federations failed to field teams at regional or international levels. Their ambition now? To extend that same brand of dysfunction to the national Olympic body.
Let’s be clear the ZOC is not a retirement home for failed administrators.
Unlike the ZIFA electoral process, which at least reserves a Vice President seat for a woman, the ZOC election process offers no such gender guarantee. It is, at least on paper, a level playing field. But what use is an open contest if it’s dominated by the same tired, underperforming faces?
When it comes to the presidential race, enthusiasm is hard to come by. None of the frontrunners inspire real confidence, although Thabani Gonye appears to have done more groundwork than what we witnessed during Admire Masenda’s dormant tenure.
An interesting subplot is volleyball’s aggressive push the code has candidates in the running for President and Vice President, and has already secured the Treasurer’s post with Mxolisi Ndlovu running uncontested. For better or worse, they’ve played the political game better than most.
But ultimately, this election is not about numbers or tactics. It’s about accountability.
Affiliates must take this moment seriously. It is not enough to cast a vote one must interrogate every candidate’s track record. How long have they held office? What concrete progress have they delivered? How have they handled safeguarding issues, financial governance, and athlete welfare? Anything less than a forensic evaluation of each nominee is a disservice to Zimbabwean sport.
Over the coming days, I’ll be shedding more light on some of the individuals in this race particularly those whose reputations should disqualify them from holding any public office, let alone steering Olympic sport.
ZOC doesn’t need more bodies. It needs leaders. And leadership begins with integrity not inflated CVs, not fake alliances, and certainly not recycled failures.
