Online Reporter
Zimpapers Sports Hub
FREELANCE journalist and aspiring Northern Region Soccer League executive member Hope Chizuzu has accused the Zifa Electoral Committee of running what he calls an illegal election process, claiming the body has violated the association’s constitution and overstepped its mandate.
In two letters dated October 27, 2025, one addressed to the Zifa general secretary and another to the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC), Chizuzu argues that the current electoral roadmap “lacks legal standing” and must be withdrawn.
“The Electoral Committee, without legal authority to so act, is imposing itself on members of Zifa without expressly satisfying itself if the member statutes stipulate the need for it to do so,” wrote Chizuzu.
“The committee does not have the mandate to come up with the alleged roadmap, which has triggered this electoral process, as the conduct of elections for members of Zifa is an exclusive preserve of the member concerned.”
Chizuzu bases his case on Articles 1(1) and 1(2) of the Zifa Electoral Code, which limit the committee’s authority to elections of the Zifa Executive Committee and independent commissions.
He insists that regional bodies and affiliates can only invite the Electoral Committee to preside over their elections if their statutes explicitly allow it, and even then, only after conferring that mandate.
“The Zifa Electoral Committee has no legal footing to be running the affairs of members who did not empower it to do so,” he wrote, adding that no such resolution was passed by Congress earlier this year.
“The issue of elections is done as per resolution of Congress, it being the supreme and constitutional authority on all Zifa issues. There is no resolution made at the last Congress in March 2025 to the effect that elections for members of Zifa be done as is being alleged herein.”
He also questions why the same assemblies that elected the current executives are now being subjected to new elections mid-term.
“Which assembly elected the Exco? When? And when did they lose their life to warrant this election in terms of the Constitution? The very same assembly, which elected the current executive in office is now being subjected to elections, in violation of the Zifa statutes,” he argued.
Zifa general secretary Yvonne Manwa confirmed receiving Chizuzu’s letter but said she has referred it to the electoral committee for direction.
“I received Chizuzu’s letter and I forwarded it to the electoral committee dealing with the elections,” Manwa said. “It’s not really my purview, so I stand guided by the electoral committee. I will only be able to comment after the response from the electoral committee.”
In his letter to the Sports and Recreation Commission, Chizuzu appealed for oversight, warning that Zifa’s current process risks breaching the Sports and Recreation Act.
“I have acquainted myself with the respective statutes as read together with the Zifa statutes and now therefore wish to draw your attention to some constitutional breaches,” he wrote. “Your attention to the matter is critical in terms of compliance and legality or lack thereof.”
Chizuzu said he filed his nomination papers before the October 21 deadline but was alarmed by what he now calls “a defective process.”
This is not the first time Chizuzu has taken on Zifa over election legality.
In 2015, the High Court in Harare dismissed his urgent bid to halt Zifa polls, finding “no urgency” in the application. Justice Joseph Musakwa ruled that Chizuzu had not exhausted internal football remedies and described the filing as “hurriedly prepared.”
Back then, Chizuzu challenged the composition of the Zifa Electoral Committee, chaired by retired Labour Court judge Justice Sello Nare, arguing that several members were ineligible under the constitution. The court struck the matter off the urgent roll, allowing the elections to proceed and paving the way for Philip Chiyangwa’s eventual rise to the presidency.
A decade later, Chizuzu is raising the same alarm, only this time through the SRC instead of the courts.
“The Zifa is a constitutional association that prides itself in its strict adherence to the constitution,” he wrote. “This should be no different, unless otherwise there are other intentions not provided for in the statutes.”
