Deadlock over Zifa trio

Sports Editor

Zifa and their senior secretariat employees are headed for a deadlock after the trio of Xolisani Gwesela, Wellington Mpandare and Wilson Mutekede reportedly declined to be elbowed out of the football association “without due compensation’’.

The Normalisation Committee running the Zifa affairs notified the trio early last month, of a decision to dissolve their positions and indicated that they would enter into negotiations for a mutual separation.

Chief operations officer Gwesela, national teams’ general manager Wellington Mpandare and technical director Wilson Mutekede had their positions dissolved by Lincoln Mutasa’s Normalisation Committee.

However, lawyers representing the trio told the Zimpapers Sports Hub yesterday that they were concerned that negotiations over their clients’ exit had taken a different route from being mutual “but taken a tone where Zifa are trying to bully and intimidate the workers’’.

One of the lawyers, Edwell Maposa said although Gwesela, Mpandare and Mutekede were amenable to negotiations, they were worried about lack of clarity on who between Zifa and Fifa is taking responsibility for their exit packages.

This comes as it emerged that in the latest round of negotiations between the Normalisation Committee and the workers on Friday, the trio had indicated they are ready to go but only when they have been paid off.

“Negotiations are underway though we feel that they have taken long because Zifa would constantly need consultation from Fifa. We needed to know who in particular desired to discharge our clients between Fifa and Zifa so that whoever is responsible then provides the funding. Initially they (Zifa) had indicated that they were seeking mutual termination but the approach has been that of intimidation. If it is Fifa who are giving directives that the workers must leave, we need directives that are lawful and which respect the labour laws of Zimbabwe.

“The kind of contexts where workers are told that you either take what is there or lose out does not work in terms of our labour laws and we reminded them that Zimbabwe has a rule of law which private and public institutions ought to observe. We felt that Fifa were being unfair in their directives and if for example Fifa felt that Zimbabwe had transgressed their laws and suspended the country, they also ought to respect the laws obtaining in this country for which the labour law is one.’’

Normalisation Committee member and lawyer, Nyasha Sanyamandwe confirmed that they were seized with the termination of the trio’s contracts but declined to publicly discuss much before she has been cleared to do so by Mutasa and the board. Mutasa indicated their desire for mutual separation in his correspondence to the employees.

“This letter serves as a formal notification of our engagements with you regarding the termination of your employment contract. We seek to have this termination mutually agreed by both parties yourselves and the Zimbabwe Football Association. Future engagements regarding your terminal packages will be conducted immediately so that this process is completed as soon as possible. The basis for making this decision emanates from the restructuring exercise that took place and your job title has since been dissolved. This means that the contract you hold with the association is now defunct,’’ read part of Mutasa’s letter.

But Maposa accused Zifa of deviating from the spirit of their correspondence, reportedly on Fifa’s directive.

“While we were discussing mutual separation, we noticed that they also tried to smuggle disciplinary issues when negotiations had started. They have offered what they have offered and we have rejected three times but we have repeatedly said that since it is mutual separation, our stance is that we need to respect the contracts and they need to compensate them in terms of the contracts but we remain amenable to negotiations for mutual separation where there is a meeting of minds not the tone of bullying one party,’’ Maposa said.

Although she was yet to secure the greenlight to discuss the matter, Sanyamandwe last month warned her Normalisation Committee colleagues about the potential of the matter spilling into a labour dispute if not handled well.

“As recommended the dismissal of Mr Gwesela, Mr Mutekede, and Mr Mpandare from Zifa secretariat, is a proposal that is not only complicated but irregular in the absence of just cause. Please take notice that should there be alleged impropriety against the above-mentioned members of the secretariat that is known to any one member of the NC or anyone among the football stakeholders such must be made available to the committee and investigations ensue through due process of fair labour practices.

We need to constantly observe that we are a Normalisation Committee and we must exercise professionalism, fairness, and justice in discharging our duties and avoid being swallowed into the toxicity of football factions which we had been mandated to normalise,’’ wrote Sanyamandwe.