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Eddie Chikamhi
Senior Sports Reporter
CHAIRMAN of the ZIFA Normalisation Committee Lincoln Mutasa says the restructuring of the association’s management was necessary to align the administration of the game in a new direction they want to take the game towards.
The current reshuffling has claimed the scalps of some top officials like the Technical Director Wilson Mutekede, the Chief Operations Officer Xolisani Gwesela and National Teams General Manager Wellington Mpandare.
Mutasa told The Zimpapers Sports that the reforms at 53 Livingstone Avenue were informed by the need to instil a new mindset and a fresh working culture.
However, some pundits have criticised the rationale behind the sacking of the critical members of staff, with conspiracy theorists suggesting the Normalisation Committee has been infiltrated by some influential members of the previous board led by Felton Kamambo and are targeting the officials for defying the previous board during the dark phase when it was suspended by the Sports Commission and later on FIFA.
Mutasa nonetheless said the Normalisation Committee was operating in accordance with the terms of reference set by FIFA when the committee was appointed in July to help restructure and bring normalcy to Zimbabwean football that had been destroyed by corruption and deep-rooted divisions.
“There were 15 employees when we joined,” said Mutasa.
“In fact, when you go through an organisational transformation or even when you have an organisation committee you are almost like judicial managers and that means you have to come into the organisation and try and see where the wheels have come off the rails.
“This could be internally or externally or it could be a combination of both. So what we did was we carried out our own internal analysis and from that internal analysis we decided we really wanted to change the mindset of the organisation.
“We also wanted to come up with a new organic organisation structure which will serve the direction that we want to take hence some of the positions fell away and in some cases we decided to bring in a new mindset. That’s basically what we did.”
ZIFA are currently involved in negotiations with the affected employees before they could terminate their contracts.
“We are negotiating on those packages. But it’s not a retrenchment, it’s by mutual agreement. So we are working that out. As you know ZIFA does not have money so clearly we will be looking to (reach favourable arrangements with the affected parties),” said Mutasa. The association has since advertised for the position of chief executive officer which fell vacant after Joseph Mamutse went AWOL in allegiance to the deposed previous administration led by Kamambo. Outward-bound ZIFA Communications and Competitions Manager Xolisani Gwesela has been holding the post in acting capacity.
Apart from searching for the Chief Executive Officer, ZIFA are currently out in full force on the hunt for a Women’s Football Officer and a Referees’ Development Officer. And in addition to beefing up the office structures, the Normalisation Committee has also been setting up committees, albeit moving at a snail’s pace in their first three months in office. There have also been accusations of undue interference from outside forces, with FIFA Head of Development Programmes in Africa Solomon Mudege accused of derailing progress by micro-managing the operations of the Normalisation Committee and fanning the divisions in domestic football by taking sides with the deposed Kamambo administration.
“The bottom line is Solomon is a representative of FIFA and we were engaged by FIFA as a Normalisation Committee so we do communicate with him.
“We update him on what is happening, he gives us advice; he tells us ‘please talk to the Normalisation Committee in Namibia they will give you ideas on how they dealt with some situations.’ But people want to twist things to suit their own narrative,” said Mutasa.
According to FIFA, the normalisation committee will have the following duties:
to run the daily affairs of ZIFA;
to restructure the ZIFA administration;
to establish, with the help of FIFA, a collaboration agreement between the Ministry of Sport/the SRC and ZIFA, which will define the responsibilities and objectives of each party, including (but not exclusively) on the topic of sexual harassment;
to review the ZIFA Statutes and Electoral Code to ensure their compliance with the FIFA Statutes and requirements, and to ensure their adoption by the ZIFA Congress;
to act as an electoral committee in order to organise and conduct elections of a new ZIFA Board based on the newly aligned ZIFA Statutes and Electoral Code; and
to ensure a proper financial handover to the new ZIFA Board.
Mutasa said he was confident of his team delivering on the mandate before the June 30, 2024, date set by the appointing authority.
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