Sundaymail Editor
NEW COSAFA President Artur de Almeida e Silva says he wants to bring member associations closer together and help solve their problems internally rather than have CAF or FIFA involved.
De Almeida was speaking in an exclusive interview with The COSAFA Show podcast following his election at the organisation’s General Assembly in Windhoek, Namibia, on Saturday.
His sentiments also come against the background of the absence of key COSAFA member Zimbabwe from the assembly in Namibia due to the country’s suspension from the international football family by FIFA.
“We need to bring all countries of COSAFA next to each other and next to their governments to help build infrastructure and help the federations. We must connect our members,” Artur de Almeida said.
“In our region, we have so many conflicts in the federations. One idea is to have each of the seven members of the COSAFA Executive Committee assist two countries. To help them, maybe they visit the countries two of three times a year to meet the federation to know things are going and what assistance they need.
“If there are some conflicts, COSAFA can be the first one to go and fix the problem before CAF or FIFA. For that, we must come next to our members,” he said.
FIFA suspended Zimbabwe following a fallout between the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) and the ZIFA board, with the country’s sport regulatory body noting a number of transgressions by the association.
Felton Kamambo’s board then sought FIFA protection and the world body reacted by suspending Zimbabwe, citing Government’s involvement as third-party interference, which the world football governing body is averse to.
COSAFA’s willingness to assist could help speed up the re-engagement process between Zimbabwe and FIFA amid revelations that the SRC are deliberating on the appeal for reinstatement of the board by the ZIFA assembly.
The ZIFA assembly met for an extraordinary meeting on April 23 at which they revoked the mandate of three board members – Kamambo, Philemon Machana and Bryton Malandule.
To avert a leadership crisis at ZIFA, the assembly retained vice president Gift Banda and board members Sugar Chagonda, Barbra Chikosi and Farai Jere.
The quartet are enough to make a quorum. – Online Reporter/
Online Reporter