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Sports Reporter
FORMER Dynamos players have said the 2017 Annual General Meeting which resulted in Bernard Marriot being handed 51 percent shareholding was not properly convened.
Marriot shut out the former players from the meeting on January 22, 2017, after obtaining a High Court order. The gathering was held at former Dynamos executive committee chairman Kenny Mubaiwa’s Arnaldo’s Restaurant.
The group of ex-players led by Ernest Kamba, and comprising a number of former DeMbare luminaries, has long questioned the legality of the meeting and its resolutions.
The ex-players have based their arguments on the provisions of the 1963 constitution, which Marriot claims has since been repealed.
His claims, however, have been quashed by the former players, who have found ammunition in the 2006 Supreme Court judgement delivered by Justice Malaba.
“First of all, the constitution is clear in clause 5:11 and clause 10:1.3 which states that ‘only former and founder players have the right to attend and vote at the AGM.
“Four of the people who sat in that meeting in 2017 as members did not qualify at all to be classified as such. What Marriot has been doing is against the provisions of the constitution and he cannot continue in contempt of the Malaba Judgement, which we all believe was final in this case of club ownership.
“Contrary to his claims, there is no provision in the Dynamos statutes for possible sole proprietorship of the club and one wonders how he came to get a 51 percent share ownership when the constitution is clear that no member is entitled to more than one share.
“Where did the percentage come from? Did he buy the shares? Was notice of the disposal of the shares ever given? Where was it advertised? These are some of the questions arising from this issue. This has to be resolved,” said a member of the new board of trustees that was elected two weeks ago to assume reigns at the club.
Dynamos players challenged Marriot when they formed a 10-member board of trustees led by another club legend Ernest Kamba as they battle to reconstitute the structures as spelt out by the 1963 constitution.
The newly-assembled Dynamos board of trustees convened their first meeting at the weekend. The other members of the board are Sunday Chidzambwa, Eric Aisam, Cremio Mapfumo, David George, Moses Chunga, Clayton Munemo, Labani Kandi, Makwinji Soma-Phiri and Gina Kapfunde. They have since advised authorities at PSL, ZIFA and Sports Commission about the move.
The group of ex-players are up in arms against Marriot’s leadership and have questioned how he came to be the majority shareholder of the club.
Marriot’s “acquisition” of 51 percent shares was done at the 2017 meeting. According to the unsigned minutes of the meeting, the other members of the board were given seven percent shares each.
“The board secretary (Chis Kasiyazi Nkosi) informed the meeting that on the 16th of September 2016, he received a motion from (late former treasurer) Mr (Owen) Chandamale which sought the distribution of shares to the Directors and to expand the Board and the Executive Committee among other things.
“The Secretary then requested the chairman (Marriot) to ask Mr Chandamale to formally move his motion before the members. The copies of the motion were distributed to all the members present.
“The motion read a) That membership remains in the hands of the company directors. b) Distribute shares to Directors and share certificates. c) Mr B. M Lusengo as the only surviving founding father to get majority shares (51 percent),” reads part of the minutes of the meeting held on January 22, 2017.
Former Dynamos members have queried on which basis the shares were parceled out when the constitution said every member of the “electoral college” was limited to just one share.
The former players also claim that Dynamos was being run outside the provisions of its constitution. They reckon that order should return to the club by reverting to the Justice Malaba Supreme Court judgement of 2006, which ruled that the club should be run in accordance with the founding constitution of 1963.
Clause 15.1.1 of the Dynamos constitution states that “founder and former players are the only bona fide members of the club and they are the persons who have the power and the right to change or amend the club’s constitution.”
The Malaba judgement said, “The 1963 Dynamos Football Club constitution has not been lawfully amended and remains the only lawful constitution of the Club.
“The ownership and management of Dynamos Football Club shall continue in terms of the 1963 constitution until such time as it is lawfully repealed or amended.”
Online Reporter