By SANDRA MWILA –
THE African Union Sports and Social Affairs Department has urged Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) president Andrew Kamanga to use his knowledge and experience to impact positively on the development of football.
Head of Division, Sport Department for Social Affairs, Machacha Shepande, said this when he congratulated the new FAZ executive committee and wished them a productive tenure of office.
Shepande said he was excited that the new executive committee intends to embark on reforms that would improve football in Zambia.
He has urged the new team to learn from the past experiences in Zambian football in order to strategise for the future.
Shepande, who is also former FAZ and Sport Council of Zambia general secretary, said there was need for football and sports organisations in general to ensure that there was forward planning in order to transform events into programmes.
He noted that event forecasting would help local organisations set their own sports agenda and become proactive.
Shepande also paid glowing tribute to the Kalusha Bwalya-led executive committee for having managed to deliver the African Cup of Nations trophy during its tenure of office.
This is contained in a statement issued by First Secretary (Press and Tourism) at the Zambian Embassy Naomi Chulu.
Meanwhile, football administrator Gideon Kaumba has appealed to Zambians to support the leadership of Kamanga.
Kaumba said in an interview yesterday that the Kamanga-led executive can only take football to greater heights if Zambians rally behind them.
“I would love to urge Zambians to support the new executive led by Kamanga, everyone should rally behind them so that they can deliver and take football to greater heights,” Kaumba said.
Kaumba said the new executive should also endeavour to work together for one common goal and put their differences aside.
He said Zambians are expectant from the new executive and they can only deliver if they work together as a team.
He said enmity was not necessary in football because it derails progress and that what Zambians want to see is the committee coming up with various programmes that will benefit the game.