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Livingstone Gwata……..an ideal candidate for the professional golfers’ board of directors

THE Zimbabwe Professional Golfers Association (ZPGA) is now on track to conform to international standards of golf management, Golfzone can reveal. Already, the association, which has endured years of “patch and sew” administration has begun approaching high profile individuals with an eye towards establishing an independent board of management that would come up with acceptable and effective structures styled along international norms and ethics. Respected golf administrator and referee, Michael Mahachi has been given a three months the task to facilitate this transition and draw up a list of suitable candidates to take up strategic positions within this Board.

“My job is essentially to facilitate the setting up of this board,” Mahachi told Golfzone. “Consultations are already underway and the process is ongoing. Nothing has been finalized as yet. I will be approaching certain individuals with a proven track record in golf administration and business and will brief them on what the organization seeks to achieve.”

In previous years, the local professional golfers have been running their own administration issues as well as tournaments and this has often portrayed the professionals’ body as a somewhat dubious operation devoid of sound management. As a result, the association has struggled to stage a decent bouquet of tournaments due to the dearth of sponsorship hence the latest move to come up with an independent body to try and spruce up the image of professional golf in Zimbabwe.

While no particular individuals have been pin-pointed for positions in the envisaged independent management board, some of the members of the Zimbabwe Open Golf Committee which successfully oversaw the hosting of the R1, 2million Africom Zimbabwe Open in April this year, are likely to be approached to become part of this noble idea.

Names that quickly come to mind include Bekithemba Ndebele, Albert Nhau, Livingstone Gwata, Dr Patrick Farrell and Cedric Jonker to name a few. All these gentlemen are renowned business people and have been heavily involved in golf over the years. Their success as part of a distinguished team that successfully ran the Zimbabwe Open project also makes them ideal candidates who are unlikely to be overlooked in the search for reputable persons who will be tasked with reinvigorating local professional golf. Maybe the list may well include other renowned business persons and administrators such as Pat Rooney, Willard Zireva, Edwin Chidzonga, amongst others.

Such a set up would also be in line with internatiuonal standards where golfers concentrate on playing only, and the management board sets the rules, organizes tournaments, woos and is accountable to sponsors and works towards the welfare of professional golfers affiliated to the professionals’ body. In South Africa for instance, the country’s Professional Golfers Association (PGA) has a nine-member board of directors chaired by Craig Ross which administers the sport. The same kind of set up applies to such major golfing powers as Britain, the United States and Australia. A similar set-up locally would definitely be a step in the right dierection for Zimbabwe. Golfzone will keep you appraised on this one.

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