daniel chigunweZimpapers Sports Hub
INCUMBENT Harare Athletic Board chairperson, Cousinet Simunyu, believes she still has something to offer to the province, as she seeks re-election during the upcoming elections.
The provincial board will hold elections at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday, with all posts on the executive committee up for grabs. The list of nominees submitted by the clubs was released yesterday.
Other nominees for the post are the outgoing vice-chairperson Aaron Whyte and former secretary-general Silas Muringani.
Simunyu, who has been leading the outgoing executive for the past four years, confirmed she is vying for another term.
“I am contesting for the chairperson post. I would like to complete some of the programmes we had started.
“I don’t want to exceed two terms. If the province trusts me again, I am running for my last term,” said Simunyu.
She indicated some of her focus areas that she wants to work on should she be voted back into office, and these include capacity building for coaches and officials and increasing the number of athletes from the province that qualify for the major competitions.
“Next year we have the Region 5 Youth Games, and we also want our province to produce more athletes.
“We need to build a relationship with the community we operate in; we need their support.”
However, Whyte, who has also been nominated for the vice-chairperson post alongside Collen Makaza, is seeking re-election for the vice-chairperson post.
“I actually said it from the onset that as long as my current chairperson is contesting, I won’t be challenging her.
“My motto and our motto in the board at the moment is pushing development forward.
“We really want to see more development happening in Harare, not only in terms of athletes but also in terms of our coaches and resources. We would like Harare to have its own resources as a board.
“And we would like to have well-equipped coaches, not people who are just holding certificates. But we want to look at having things like coaching symposiums, seminars, and even developmental exchange programmes.
“Whereby we liaise with clubs outside Zimbabwe so that our coaches can be attached there and we have coaches from outside coming here also working with us here so that they also see how we do things,” said Whyte.
He added that development is at the heartbeat of their ambitions.
“Then in terms of developing athletes, we would like to see our athletes not only taking part in local competitions but also promoting our athletes to go regional and abroad to compete as well as helping our athletes who are aiming to get scholarships,” Whyte added.
For the secretary general position, there are three nominees: Sledge Chinyoka, Martha Mashayamanda, and Kimberly Chigwedere.
Dasmata Manyanga, Claris Gwata, Neria Tembo, Chinyoka, Mashayamanda, and Chigwedere have been nominated for the vice-secretary-general’s post.
Tsitsi Nhedziwa and Manyanga are the two nominees for the treasurer’s post.
Mashayamanda has also been nominated for the women’s chair post together with Farisai Tapera and Lutah Chari.
Collen Jimu, Taurai Magaya, and Manyanga are expected to run for the officials’ coordinator post, while Makaza and Mavhuto Tumba are the two nominees for the coaches’ coordinator post. There are also 13 nominees for the two committee member posts.
