Story by Raynald Ngwarati
ZIMBABWE Olympic Committee (ZOC) president Thabani Gonye has been re-elected to lead the country’s Olympic body for a second successive term after edging Ringisai Mapondera 15-12 in a tightly contested election at a local hotel in Harare this Sunday.
After a successful election this Sunday, the new ZOC board has shifted attention to turning manifestos into reality so as to take the country’s sports industry to greater heights.
With a shared vision of athlete development and support, the board has promised to put strategic frameworks in place to harness support for sport from the social and corporate sectors.
Incumbent president Thabani Gonye who has been leading the Olympic body for the past four years, will continue implementing his vision after garnering the majority of the votes.
Speaking upon re-election, Gonye outlined the importance of collaboration with the losing candidates in a bid to foster the ultimate environment for sports growth in the country.
“We need to embrace the diversity to embrace that, which will make us better and stronger. I want to appreciate and say, the vision is to start winning at the levels that we should be winning, we should be winning at the continental and world levels. We should be winning in the World Olympics,” he said.
Meanwhile, former Head of ZBC’s Television Productions, Merit Munzwembiri was voted the second vice president of ZOC, serving alongside Fredrick Ndlovu, who was re-elected first vice president.
“I have been serving as a board member in the gender office. From there I have seen and noticed a lot of things, which has prompted me to run for the vice president post in order to uplift women. The focus is not just on females in sport but also the female stakeholders for example the journalists also need to be empowered,” she said.
“The most important thing is the work that lies ahead. I would like to thank all the national federations that have shown trust in me and retained me. It shows that they still feel that I have work to do, and I am ready to do that,” ZOC First vice president, Frederick Ndlovu said.
Elected Committee members include Tawanda Sithole, former ZIFA Executive Xolisani Gwesela, Lizzie Mupure, Charmaine Chamboko, Abel Chimukoko, Edison Chirowodza and Abigail Mnikwa, while Mxolisi Ndlovu was uncontested to occupy the treasurer post.
The new board assumes office immediately after the previous board was dissolved prior to the elections.
[15:36, 27/04/2025] Cee👱🏻♀️:
