Newly elected Zimbabwe Women Football chairperson Rosemary Kanonge says her immediate task was to unite all stakeholders in women football to foster development.

In her acceptance speech at the Zimbabwe Football Association offices in Harare on Saturday, Kanonge said there is need to heal the wounds in women football after divisions which resulted in the formation of a splinter league last year.

“We need to address the issue of divisions first so that we move forward on a clean slate. We need to mend the bridges and bring everyone together with a shared vision and goals. After that we will work on the issue of the constitution,” Kanonge said.

“We also need to treat the issue of the resumption of the national league as a matter of urgency. We will sit down with all stakeholders and see how we can tackle this issue. We also need to have grassroots development starting from the regions.

“Sponsorship is of paramount importance for us to achieve our goals, so we will work in hand with the president Doctor Chiyangwa so that they help us in sourcing funding.  We want to improve women football but again we need unity to achieve this.”

Kanonge takes over from Elizabeth Langa who was holding the post on an acting capacity following the suspension of Miriam Sibanda in 2015. 

Kanonge, an assistant commissioner in the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional services will now sit on the Zifa executive committee.

The whole women’s executive committee was elected unopposed except for Luckmore Marufu who beat Brightwell Kadenge 7-5 in an election to choose the male representative to the board. 

There will be a by election to fill the vacant post for the sixth committee member.

The new committee includes chairperson Kanonge, deputized by Samukeliso Silengane while Marufu, Barbra Chikosi and Samukeliso Ndlovu complete the committee.