“I get chased away from the National Sports stadium whenever I try to train youngsters by those officials who want me to pay them to train the upcoming athletes,” said Chipere. “This is affecting my interest in developing athletics in the country. NAAZ demanded R500 from athletes to get cleared to represent the country at international races. There is gross corruption there. NAAZ does not help us in any way, yet they want to dig into our pockets.”
Chipere said the future of the sport was bleak if NAAZ did not improve its administration. “We will not prosper because everything has been politicised. Leaders are also being driven more by the desire to fill their pockets than develop the sport and most of the leaders we have now don’t know anything about athletics,” he added.