adminthe next two days work with Zifa to help the association to align their constitution with the Fifa statutes.
Fifa senior manager for Member Associations James Johnson, the world body’s legal counsel (corporate legal) in the Legal affairs division Simone Studer and the development officer for Southern Africa Ashford Mamelodi flew into the country yesterday afternoon and immediately expressed confidence that they would help Zifa put in place a model constitution. Johnson said Fifa had at their last congress resolved that all member associations should adopt the world body’s template in their laws.
“At the last Fifa Congress it was resolved that all countries should adopt Fifa standard statutes for good governance and the focus is not just in Zimbabwe but around the world,’’ Johnson said.
Mamelodi who is no stranger to Zimbabwe having regularly visited the country on various missions said he would also take some time to inspect the progress being made on the Goal Project at the Zifa Village in Mt Hampden.
The veteran administrator however said the constitutional review exercise that was his main mission this time around and dismissed assertions that their tour of duty was timed to precede the pending election season in the domestic game.
“This is purely a constitutional review programme that was requested by Zifa a long time ago but Fifa had other commitments and they are fulfilling that request now.
“This is the opportunity that that we have got and obviously when we go through what they (Zifa) and hear what they want we will make some recommendations.
“But at the end of the day, it is the assembly that will approve the constitution.
“What we are going to be doing here is very normal and we have been to Kenya and Uganda on similar missions and we are not party to any mischief or conspiracy,’’ Mamelodi said.
The Fifa development officer also explained some of the steps that the constitutional reform process would take. “Zifa been consulting with their stakeholders to come up with a draft and we are going to meet selected representatives from among those stakeholders.
“We will go through what they have, make some recommendations and they will take it to the assembly but before the final constitution is adopted by the assembly it has to come back to Fifa and we go through it again because we are committed to ensuring the best practices prevail.
“So I don’t see how any mischief could be part of the constitution,’’ Mamelodi said.
Zifa early last year set up a constitutional review committee headed by legal executive Cosmas Mkwesha, which travelled to all provinces gathering submissions from the various structures if the association.
Mkwesha is expected to present his team’s findings to Mamelodi, Johnson and Studer with the Fifa trio also expected to give their input.
Zifa are also expected to use the Fifa trio’s visit to seek clarification on the composition of the board which became bloated following a rash assembly resolution of December 2009 when the size was increased to 13. There have been questions over the relevance of heaving such portfolio like competitions and marketing even at the Premier Soccer League level when there a full time secretariat and when such duties should be the collective responsibility of the entire leadership. The composition and powers of an emergency committee which should sit between regular board meetings could also come under discussion as is the criteria used to elect board members.
At the moment some board members are elected by the assembly while others come via elections at affiliate level such as the regions, who are represented by their chairmen.
Despite being big on number the board has constantly been founding wanting especially when it came to sourcing funding each time Zifa president Cuthbert Dube who also returned from Fifa Confederations Cup duties yesterday, has not been around to bail out the cash strapped association.
Online Reporter