Committee to present Zifa draft constitution

The final draft will be ratified at the annual general meeting before being sent to the Sport and Recreation Commission and then to Fifa for endorsement.
Zifa president Cuthbert Dube in November commissioned a four-member Constitutional Review Committee made up of legal practitioners Cosmas Mukwesha, Chinoda Hove, Timothy Dangamwe and Tawengwa Hara, who is the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League board member (competitions) to speedily amend the constitution.
This was after Fifa raised concerns on the number of those who vote at the assembly when the world body’s a special team visited the country in July.
Thirty-four councillors cast their votes and the number is likely to be reduced to 24 which is deemed “manageable and sensible”.
The general feeling is that most of the councillors go to the assembly just to make up the numbers and make little or no meaningful contributions at the meetings.
Those that might be dropped from voting include referees, medical, coaches, tertiary, Naph, Nash, five-aside and women’s soccer.
This means that only the six Premiership representatives, vice-chairpersons and secretary-generals of the four Zifa regions and 10 provincial chairpersons will remain with the powers to elect board members.
In a telephone interview from Harare yesterday, Zifa chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze confirmed that some of the affiliates that used to vote would be stripped of that right in the event that a new constitution is approved.
“It is true that there will be so many changes as the constitution has to meet Fifa requirements and the laws of the country. This means that some of the associations will lose their voting rights and join the likes of Footballers Union of Zimbabwe who attend the Zifa Assembly as associate members. The honorary members also attend assembly but they do not have voting rights.
“The world over, employees are excluded from the parliament of football and the Zifa constitution has to follow that trend. I cannot say which associates are going to lose their voting rights as that will be more like pre-emptying what the Zifa Constitutional Review Committee will present on 28 January,” said Mashingaidze.
In football, referees, coaches and medical staff are employees and as such they cannot vote for their employers.
This effectively means that the Zimbabwe Soccer Coaches’ Association, Zimbabwe Referees’ Committee and Football Medicine should start preparing for their future as associates.
Five-a-side is an affiliate of Zifa and they will have to lobby for their programmes as associate members just like the other bodies.
Schools soccer bodies – Naph, Nash and Tertiary – are likely to fall under one umbrella which might be named Youth Football and will accommodate Junior Football and still be an associate.
This publication could not establish whether the review committee was in unison with having the Zifa secretariat setting a women’s football desk which would focus on their day-to-day operations.
Apart from stripping some associates of their voting powers, sources said there were members that felt that all board members should be voted for at the assembly.
The four regional chairpersons and the Premier Soccer League chairperson automatically make it into the board.
The assembly chooses the Zifa president, his two deputies, board member (finance), board member (development), board member (marketing) and board member (competitions).
According to sources, Zifa is in a dilemma following the suspension of two board members Gift Banda and Patrick Hokonya of the Southern and Central regions.
“Zifa fears that because there is no specific provision on the constitution, the suspended regional chairmen can argue that they are not answerable to the assembly as they have their constituency which they can revert to. So it won’t be surprising to see some people lobbying to have regional representatives being voted for at the assembly, which will be suicidal, I think.
“There are also others who feel that we must return to two regions – Northern and Southern. However, others fear that they might lose their positions,” said one source.
The move to have more regions is viewed as a political rather than a developmental cause as the standard of soccer has not improved following the expansion.
When Eastern Region was established, it was because others felt that Southern Region was dominating the Premier Soccer League, which is the flagship of Zimbabwe soccer.
Even the formation of Central Region was meant to balance the football political landscape, as there were few Southern Region clubs in the PSL.
In other countries, the head of the Premier League automatically becomes the national association vice-president.
South Africa, big as it is and enjoying lots of corporate support, has two lower divisions whose champions earn a topflight soccer action ticket.