Zimbabwe: The ZIFA Normalisation Committee allows former Zimbabwe national women’s team coach Shadreck Mlauzi to reapply for the Mighty Warriors.
The official contract of the 44-year-old coach expired on Dec 31. He was stuck in a court case to clear his name after a female team trainer accused him of sexual harassment during the COSAFA Women’s Championship last year.
Mlauzi was acquitted last week by the Harare magistrate of all the charges after the court found no credible evidence from the key witness to back the allegations.
The ZIFA Normalisation Committee Vice Chairperson Cynthia Malaba said that the association don’t want to hurry in appointing a coach for the women’s team as they were ordered to currently search for the men’s team coach to prepare the Warriors for the impending 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
The Vice Chairperson said that when the time comes, they will also advertise for the Mighty Warriors’ coaching post and Mlauzi will not be disadvantaged by the recent events. As his contract was expiring on Dec 31 just like the other ones.
Malaba added that in terms of whether they will proceed with him, she cannot say anything because they are going to start the process again of getting a coach for the women.
She also cleared that there was no urgency on their part to get the women’s coach because they don’t have any fixtures coming. At the moment, they are focusing on the men’s coach.
“In due course, definitely we will look for a coach for the women. If he applies, there is nothing that can hinder him because the coach has been absolved,” stated Malaba.
The Chairman of the ZIFA Normalisation Committee – Lincoln Mutasa said that they were shocked by the allegations which were raised against Mlauzi as a thorough background check was done before he was appointed as coach.
Mlauzi was a teacher by profession and has worked for over 23 years in women’s football. He holds the record for being the only coach to lead a Zimbabwean football team to a global event after helping the Mighty Warriors qualify for the Olympic Games that were held in Brazil back in 2016.
Before Shadreck was appointed, the key issue was that they deliberated as Normalisation Committee… Can’t they find any lady coach?
Mutasa said, “We were told that Mlauzi has consistently given us results. He is the one who took us to the Olympics. Then we asked about issues to do with morality and things like that and we were sure that this guy is above board.”
She mentioned that these were the reasons why they stuck with him, as they felt that he had a CV which was worth considering. In fact, it was shocking for them, too, that what was now supposed to be happening in South Africa. But what did not surprise them was the judgement that came from the courts.
“So, I think, based on the results, he is a very good coach. The reason why he had been given ladies to work with was that we wanted ladies to learn from him. We wanted Mlauzi to have female assistants who would learn from him. Some of those coaches are more qualified than him but have never produced a successful winning team,” said Mutasa.