adminRay Bande Senior Sports Reporter
ELECTIONEERING ahead of the December 5 Zifa elections is going ahead clandestinely, while debate on who could be the rightful candidate for domestic football administration rages on in various meeting places around the country.
The office of the Zifa president fell vacant after the recent unceremonious departure of disgraced former PSMAS boss, Cuthbert Dube and the debt-ridden association has earmarked December 5 as the date for the elections.
Candidates have to send their papers to the Zifa secretariat at least 30 days before the elections.
From the seven places in the executive committee, five are vacant, with the president, vice and three other members’ positions all up for grabs.
As the debate rages on, several names have been featuring prominently as possible replacements for Dube.
The names include Harare businessman, Phillip Chiyangwa, Prophetic Healing and Deliverance leader prophet, Walter Magaya, CAPS United major shareholder, Farai Jere, former ZIFA vice-president, Omega Sibanda, veteran soccer journalist, Charles Mabika, current PSL chief executive officer, Kennedy Ndebele, PSL board of directors chairman, Twine Phiri and Trevor Carelse-Juul who lost to Cuthbert Dube in the recent previous election.
However, it remains to be seen whether Chiyangwa and Mabika can make it through the election process given that the ZIFA constitution clearly states that to qualify one must have been in football administration for at least five years.
Article 32 of the ZIFA constitution states that: “The members shall have already been active in football administration for at least five years, must not have been previously found guilty of a criminal offence as defined under national criminal law and have residency within the territory of ZIFA.”
Others who seem to meet this criterion and have been linked to the job include Phiri, Jere, Carelse-Juul, Sibanda and Ndebele among others.
A cursory assessment of the names being touted so far may leave Jere and Carelse-Juul as front runners.
Juul lost to Dube in the second round of the voting following the elimination of two other candidates — Leslie Gwindi and Nigel Munyati.
Dube polled 44 votes to Carelse Juul’s 14 in the run-off after none of the candidates had polled the required two-thirds majority to be confirmed outright winner.
Carelse-Juul played top-flight football for Eagles and giants, Dynamos before becoming the youngest ever coach, aged 26, to guide the record Zimbabwean champions to a league title.
He then served as Zifa chairman in the early 1990s before he left office in 1993 after being replaced by Leo Mugabe.
Carelse-Juul’s campaign during the previous election was mainly centred on player welfare and development, stemming from his experience as a player, coach and administrator.
The Dream Team’s emergence and success is largely credited to Carelse-Juul whose tenure witnessed handsome player remuneration.
Online Reporter