admin
Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
ZIMBABWE football is being led by a dysfunctional ZIFA Board crippled by factions, internal conflicts and whose members’ independence to effectively discharge their functions has been compromised by a President who even holds meetings at his house and uses his financial muscle to oil the national game’s activities.
This is contained in a damning report by the Sport and Recreation Commission, which fingers ZIFA president Cuthbert Dube and chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze, as the key players in a crippling leadership crisis blamed for the chronic challenges that are destroying Zimbabwe football.
The report was compiled by a Commission of Inquiry, set up by the Sports Commission, to look into the state of football in this country, with the preliminary findings accusing the two principal figures in the Association of running ZIFA into the ground and lacking integrity and transparency.
The Committee paints a graphic picture of a national game that has been pushed into its deathbed by a dysfunctional leadership, where the ZIFA president and the chief executive have not only lost their credibility but had become a cancer that was devouring Zimbabwe football.
The Committee, led by Obadiah Moyo, notes that any dissenting voices, who have dared to question the way the game was being ruined by its leadership, have been silenced by suspensions and expulsion based on rules and regulations which are null and void because they were not registered with the Sports Commission as demanded by the laws of this country.
ZIFA vice-president, Omega Sibanda, and board members, Ben Gwarada (finance) and Miriam Sibanda (women football), have been suspended and their cases are still to be heard by the Association’s Disciplinary Committee.
However, observations by the Committee that the ZIFA rules and regulations are null and void, on the basis that they were not registered with the Sports Commission upon the adoption of a new ZIFA Constitution two years ago, means that the suspension of the three board members, and others who have fallen by the wayside, is effectively nullified.
The Committee noted that the ZIFA Board had virtually usurped the powers of the Assembly.
“There are two factions on the Board and this has rendered the Board ineffective. There exists challenges of suspensions which have remained unresolved up to the time of carrying out this Inquiry,” the Committee said in their report.
“According to the structure, the Board is accountable and subordinate to the Assembly but, in practice, this has presented some challenges between the two structures.
“Lack of clear communication channels between ZIFA structures have been raised as impediments to the smooth running of ZIFA.
“Internal conflicts, disputes and dysfunctional Board, Assembly and its affiliates are a result of the Association’s failure to make the statutes available to its internal publics and inadequate provision of a credible dispute resolution mechanism.
“Articles 9, 14, 15 and 16 are not aligned hence there is ambiguity in the roles and procedures of the Board and Assembly. Currently, the Board seems to have usurping powers over the Assembly on issues to do with suspension and expulsion.
“Due to lack of alignment and ambiguity in these Articles, some of its natural persons’ suspensions have remained unresolved.
“The Committee noted that ZIFA Rules and Regulations were reviewed and adopted by ZIFA Council on 15 February 2015 but were not registered with the SRC as per Part 5, Section 29 and Sub Section 7, which renders unregistered statutes null and void.
“According to the ZIFA General Secretary, the Rules and Regulations are already in use despite the fact that they have not been registered with the SRC.”
The Committee noted that the democratic rights of Councillors to convene meetings, as per the Constitution, and discuss issues affecting their game, were being violated and their efforts frustrated by a ZIFA Board whose integrity was questionable because of the factions ravaging it and the fact that most of the leaders depended on Dube’s benevolence to discharge their duties.
That some ZIFA Board meetings were even held at Dube’s house in the capital was not only unacceptable, for a national association, but a sign that the leadership of the organisation had become compromised they could not be trusted to execute their duties independently.
“The Committee observed from the ZIFA Assembly Meeting held on Saturday 25 July 2015 that the meeting procedures were not followed as resolutions were not made properly during the meeting,” the report says.
“It was evident from the ZIFA Assembly that the democratic rights of Councillors to convene meetings, as per the constitution, were being violated by the management (ZIFA Secretariat) and the president.
“From the hearings, it was alleged that the ZIFA Board meetings were at times held at the president’s residence thereby compromising the attendance by members.
“It was not established whether the ZIFA Board and its affiliates have records of meetings since no submissions of minutes were done despite requests to the General Secretary.
“ZIFA employees have not been paid for close to nine months now. The ZIFA president confirmed in the ZIFA Assembly that he was personally sustaining the ZIFA employees through monthly handouts. There was no clear explanation whether that support filters to province and region staff.
“There is no paper trail of the money allegedly owed to the ZIFA President and there are no Board minutes to show the approval of the transaction by the ZIFA Board. The ZIFA Assembly confirmed there were never consulted each time the ZIFA president uses his own resources on ZIFA business.
“According to the ZIFA Assembly, there is no record to show those transactions and commitment on what the ZIFA president is owed by ZIFA.”
The Committee noted that grassroots football, the lifeblood of the game, had virtually collapsed in this country.
“ZIFA’s lower tier structures are not functional and those that are functional are uncoordinated. Out of a possible seventy Area Zones, only twelve (12) exist,” reads the report.
“Before the current ZIFA Board, junior football was administered under the National Junior Football League, just like the PSL, Women Soccer and other leagues.
“Currently, there is no evidence of junior programmes underway in Zimbabwe except ad-hoc and unstructured activities taking place throughout the country.
“The Committee noted that leaving the co-ordination of national junior programmes to the schools and tertiary system was catastrophic in that all these structures are not affiliates of ZIFA but are invited to sit on the ZIFA Assembly.
“It was pointed out that whilst ZIFA receives grants for national programmes for juniors, football medicine, referees, coaches and Women Football, the organisation of such programmes and activities was described as chaotic and lacks transparency.”
Tomorrow, The Herald will publish more from the damning report on the state of Zimbabwe football by the Sports Commission
Online Reporter