adminSenior Sports Reporter
ELECTIONS to choose a replacement for former Zifa Eastern Region chairman, Piraishe Mabhena, will be held any time soon after the incumbent was recently elected into the Zifa board.
In an election that ushered in businessman, Phillip Chiyangwa as the new Zifa president, Mabhena garnered the highest number of votes among the four Zifa board members that were eventually elected into office at Zifa Village in Mt Hampden in the capital recently.
Accordingly, Mabhena relinquishes his Zifa Eastern Region chairmanship post.
Zifa Eastern Region secretary, Simba Wisdom, confirmed that they will be having an election anytime soon as per the mother body’s directive.
“The mother body announced that there should be an election for the post of chairman in the Eastern Region and we will accordingly have them anytime soon.
“It is common knowledge that our former chairman Piraishe Mabhena was elected into the national Zifa board, hence the need to elect his replacement.
“The same guidelines that were used when Mabhena was elected into office will apply. In this case one needs five years experience in football club administration in order to contest for the position,” said Wisdom.
Meanwhile, candidates holding lower positions in Zifa will be required to relinquish them before contesting the mother-body’s election at the higher level, it emerged this week.
Zifa lawyer Ralph Maganga told the media this week that the electoral committee was compiling a report that would plug several anomalies noted during the recent Zifa elections.
At the election that ushered in Philip Chiyangwa as Zifa president, three sitting regional chairmen, Felton Kamambo, Mabhena and Musa Mandaza contested for board member positions while still holding on to their posts.
While Mabhena and Kamambo were victorious and hence relinquished their old posts, Mandaza fell back to his old post as Southern Region chairman.
Maganga said the Zifa constitution was silent on the matter, but they hoped to bring clarity with recommendations set to be made by the Sello Nare-headed Electoral Committee.
Maganga said in the case of the old constitution, one had to resign before seeking a higher post which meant elections for the vacant lower posts would be held before the Zifa board elections contrary to the current situation.
The Zifa legal representative said the electoral recommendations would not be made public before being presented to the Zifa board.
Maganga said the electoral committee report was likely to bring clarity to the contentious issue of the Zifa board order to the Premier Soccer League to hold elections to elect a new representative.
The board contends Twine Phiri is no longer the chairman of Caps United a team he represents in the PSL.
While Zifa insists the PSL has to hold elections, the affiliate has backed Phiri saying he was their chairman who should occupy a position in the Zifa board on their behalf.
Zifa justified their actions arguing that the mandate of the previous Zifa board had been revoked on October 3 and the new board had been given a fresh mandate through elections hence affiliates with members who were in the previous board are also obliged to hold elections and that includes the PSL and Zimbabwe Women Football.
In a statement, Zifa said the body’s constitution states that additional members of the executive committee from the PSL and ZWF should be installed by congress but that had not been the case with the two affiliates’ representatives.
Online Reporter