Chronicle Editor
Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
VETERAN football administrators Vincent Pamire and Francis Zimunya have taken a swipe at suspended Zifa president Felton Kamambo for begging Fifa to suspend Zimbabwe after he was blocked from travelling to Cameroon for the Afcon final last Friday.
Our sister paper The Sunday Mail reported that Kamambo had instructed his suspended chief executive officer Joseph Mamutse to ask Fifa to sanction Zimbabwe ostensibly because he had been barred from travelling to Cameroon to watch the epic Afcon final between Egypt and Senegal, which the Lions of Teranga won 4-2 on penalties after a goalless deadlock in 120 minutes on Sunday night.
Pamire said he is disappointed that the suspended Zifa board members have become renegades.
Pamire, a former Zifa acting president, suspects that Kamambo and his suspended clique might be trying to “cover up some things”, hence their desperation to try and get the country banned by Fifa.
“On a serious note, something has gone wrong with Kamambo and his guys.
You run football for people who chose you.
If you’re not competent enough, just leave.
These guys have been given enough time.
What is it that they are hiding for them to want to cling to office? I now suspect that there’s something they want to hide, hence their desperation for Fifa intervention.
How do you suspend others while you’re suspended?
“They’re becoming a law unto themselves.
It’s disappointing that adults are trying to create chaos and I think it will be naïve of Fifa to allow these people to continue ruining Zimbabwean football when it’s clear that the people who voted them in don’t want them anymore,” said Pamire.
In their letter to Fifa signed by Mamutse, Zifa claimed the domestic game was now in quandary as the Government had taken over football administration.
Zimunya, a former Fifa board member, equally condemned the deliberate chaos and confusion being caused by the out of favour Kamambo and his colleagues.
“The problem is that we’ve got unpatriotic people; people who are confused and don’t care about the consequences of their actions.
I feel pity for him (Kamambo) and his compatriots.
My advice to him (Kamambo) is that he should stop whatever he’s doing and listen to the voice of the people and the majority.
The guys must be reminded that the positions they assumed are at the behest of Zimbabweans,” said Zimunya.
“They are calling Fifa yet they are the ones who’ve been violating the constitution multiple times.
That they failed to organise annual general meetings meant that they created a gap between them and councillors.
All what is happening now could have been avoided had councillors been afforded time to meet at an AGM and advise the board.
Good governance could have been put in place by councillors at the assembly.
Now Kamambo is just a lonely man in the wilderness.”
Zimunya, whose Zimbabwe Football Stakeholders Forum sent a petition to Fifa, President Mnangagwa and the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) in 2020, calling for removal of the Zifa board, said “proper football structures and proper people” should be in charge of Zifa.
In their petition, they accused the Zifa board of engaging in corruption, financial mismanagement, embezzlement, maladministration and electoral fraud.
“We’re happy that the SRC listened to concerned people and acted to save football.
We saw it two years ago that things were not happening in football and had those items we had listed in our petition been attended to, this Zifa board wouldn’t be where it is.
They didn’t take heed of our concerns then and only a fool refuses to hear or listen to advice,” Zimunya said.
The outspoken administrator challenged Zifa councillors pushing for an extraordinary general meeting not to despair and ignore suspensions that the board has been announcing.
— @ZililoR
Online Reporter