Chronicle EditorRicky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
ZIFA vice-president Gift Banda feels vindicated after the association’s disciplinary committee found him not guilty of “unilaterally” making changes to national teams’ technical structures when he was acting president.
Banda has been sidelined from football for 14 months after being suspended in January 2019, just a month after being voted into office, for announcing the removal of Rahman Gumbo and Lloyd Mutasa as assistant coaches in the Warriors’ technical setup and replacing them with Bongani Mafu and Tonderai Ndiraya.
The Zifa board resolved to suspend Banda, accusing him of unilaterally making changes to the technical teams without their input.
“I have been vindicated and I now await to hear from Zifa. I knew from the start that I had no case, but well, that’s something for another day. What is key is for football to be the winner and I feel that is what everyone has to work towards achieving,” said Banda.
“All along, my focus was to clear my name, get back to the game I love most and do what the councilors had entrusted me to do when they voted me into office, which is to be a football servant.”
Zifa disciplinary committee chairman Tendai Masawi broke news of Banda’s acquittal to our sister paper Sunday Mail.
“The disciplinary committee indeed met and deliberated on the matter and the long and short of it is that he was found not guilty of the charges he was facing. It was a unanimous decision by the committee not to find him guilty,” Masawi said.
Banda had maintained all along that the Zifa board erred in suspending him, as the board had the power to reverse the appointments and stick with the old Warriors’ technical setup if it so wished.
Banda had also questioned the timing of his suspension, which was after the embattled association received funds from world football governing body Fifa.
He held a media briefing and alleged that a disagreement over disbursement of the Fifa funds could have contributed to his sanction.
He challenged the association to conduct a forensic audit to restore the confidence of all football stakeholders.
Banda felt his push for a forensic audit over disbursement of Fifa funds in the one month that the Zifa board had assumed office caused his suspension. Fifa deposits the funds into a Zifa nostro account and Banda wanted to establish that the movement of money was above board since no creditors were being paid in US dollars. – @ZililoR
Bongani Moyo
Online Reporter