admin“As far as I know the resolution to charge us a fee has not been communicated officially to us as an association.
“We have heard through hearsay that the Zifa assembly resolved to charge us.
“But we are saying from the beginning, as agents, we are an affiliate of Zifa and how could the assembly sit and decide on us as I feel that any decision that will be taken should also involve our input,” said Sibanda.
As football agents, Sibanda said, they require a seat on the Zifa council so that their constituency is also represented.
“Local football agents are not protected in any way.
“We are saying until each and every player falls under an agent and each club also has a representative, then we can talk about paying.
“Right now under the present arrangement, we are at times abused as some clubs conspire with players to forge affidavits that claim that they have no representation.
“The whole idea by some clubs is to get shortcuts in signing a player and what has the Zifa assembly done to stop these bogus football agents?
“There are number of pirate agents who are taking players outside for trials and we feel that Zifa should stop these people from doing so,” he said.
Sibanda said he has already submitted his input to the Zifa constitution committee who are drafting a new working document for Zifa.
“We want to be represented in the Zifa council because we are also an affiliate.
“Even if we do not get the right to vote but at least we should have either our president or secretary or a representative in the Zifa Assembly just like the other affiliates.
“I have already met the guys working on the constitution and submitted our views,” said Sibanda.
He also said they were working on updating their database of Zifa licensed football agents in Zimbabwe.
“For one to be recognised as a football agent or manager, he or she has to write Fifa examinations and pass.
“But there are several bogus people who are operating at our expense.
“Soon we should be updating our database so that we come up with a list of those agents or managers that are still active,” said Sibanda.
Zimbabwe has 33 recognised players’ agents but according to Fifa the football governing body has not been licensing since 2001.
At present players’ agents are licensed directly by each association and Fifa have stated that there is no such thing as a Fifa players’ agent.
Meanwhile the stand-off between the Dynamos players and their management continued yesterday as the club’s principal sponsors, BancABC, remained in the dark on the sad developments at the club.
The players vowed they will only start work when they get their money owed in signing-on fees and bonuses for winning the league title last season.
The management had promised to pay out the outstanding money by the end of January and it appears the players are running out of patience and decided to stage a sit-in.
The club’s principal sponsors, BancABC, yesterday indicated that they have not received official communication from Dynamos in the latest episode.
BancABC, who will bankroll the team in this year’s Champions League competition, are not obliged to pay signing-on fees and bonuses, which are at the centre of contention, but have a contract to pay the players’ salaries as the club’s major sponsors.
The bank’s head of marketing and communication Cynthia Chizwina yesterday said they have not received official communication from Dynamos.
“As far as we are concerned it’s business as usual at Dynamos. We are not aware of any issues because the management has not communicated that to us,” said Chizwina.
“We made a contractual undertaking to pay the players’ salaries and that has been done without failure. If it’s (the boycott) is to do with any obligations that the club needs to meet with funds they get from other
sources, then they haven’t spoken to us about it.
“We always want to make sure that the team is playing and that there is a good rapport between us and the team. Of course we are the major sponsors but there could be need for dialogue to see if we can revise some of the aspects of our sponsorship,” she added.
Dynamos players were supposed to resume their pre-season routines on Tuesday but for the past three days they have only been reporting to their training ground without getting down to their paces.
Online Reporter