adminPetros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
PREMIER Soccer League clubs are set to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the amended Zifa constitution with the top-flight sides now getting full representation in the mother body’s assembly.
The Zifa assembly met in the capital last weekend at which amendments to the constitution were ratified by domestic football’s top policy making body.
Zimbabwe has over the past six years, failed to put in place an authentic constitution with two or three different documents being used in the governance of the game.
But after a series of countrywide consultative seminars with the game’s stakeholders, a special committee headed by Harare legal executive Cosmas Mkwesha and including veteran administrator and honorary member Cornelius Bganya, came up with a draft constitution that was further panel-beaten by Fifa and the Sports Commission to ensure that it conforms to the international standards.
Now that board of governors has finally received the recognition at a higher level, with the Zifa assembly giving their seal approval to it by ratifying a clause that increases the number of PSL representatives in the congress from six to 16.
This means each of the top teams will now have a seat in the Zifa assembly whose size has also now been expanded to 62.
In line with Fifa’s directives such affiliate bodies like sports medicine, referees, coaches, junior football and the Footballers Union of Zimbabwe cannot be members of the Zifa assembly.
Instead, these technical bodies will be part of the various Zifa sub-committees with board members being assigned to sit on those committees and ensure matters discussed there are articulated at board level.
Crucially, it is the fact that the elite clubs, who provide the bulk of national teams’ players and are a mirror of the state of the Zimbabwean game, will now have direct representation on the Zifa assembly after getting the recognition they long deserved.
Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze welcomed the councillors’ move to ratify the amended constitution which he hoped would now help bring sanity to the administration of the game at all levels.
Mashingaidze was also happy to note that Zifa was adapting to the global trends in terms of football governance by having a constitution that did not encounter problems of legitimacy.
“Our statutes had been lagging behind the rest of the world and even the rules and regulations that were operational here were formulated in 1996 and yet we are now in 2013. You will find that unlike in the past we also now have a Zifa electoral code that will set benchmarks for the electoral committee, the candidates, voting procedures and the general principles to be followed in the event of a dispute.
“Apart from increasing the number of the PSL delegates at the congress, the envisaged national league once established will have four members each from the top four clubs from the previous season.
“Junior football, soccer coaches, referees and some such bodies are no longer part of the assembly as some of them are technical and fall under the sub-committees while junior football is already covered under NAPH and NASH as well as the technical and development committee.
“The standing committees that we have include that of finance, audit, organising committee for Zifa competitions, players’ status and sports medical committee.
“In line with the gender balancing requirements all the representatives of women football on the assembly and in the board have to female,’’ Mashingaidze said.
Mashingaidze, whose position makes him an ex-officio member of the Zifa board, also explained the new set-up of the board whose size will be reduced to eight under the new constitution.
“There is now a limit of two terms of four years each for a Zifa president and the board. Apart from the president, vice-president (elected by the congress) there will be one member each representing the PSL, the Women’s League and the regions would also have to choose a representative while three other members to be elected would have to be assigned duties by the board,’’ Mashingaidze said.
A closer look at the proposed set up of the new board under the amended constitution shows that no candidate will go to the elective assembly seeking to battle for a particular portfolio like competitions, development or marketing. It is also Zifa’s hope that the move to reduce the size of the board to eight will make it more manageable and expedite the passing of business decisions on behalf of the football family.
The post of a second vice-president for Zifa which under the current leadership was held by former Fifa and Caf referee Kenny Marange has also been abolished while being a regional chairman no longer guarantees one a seat on the board.
In between executive committee meetings, an emergency committee of the board will deliberate on Zifa business with its decisions being ratified by the board when it meets.
“The emergency committee shall deal with all matters requiring immediate settlement between two meetings of the executive committee.
“The committee shall consist of the president of Zifa and three members of the executive committee appointed by the executive committee (board) for a period of four years.
“The general secretary (chief executive) shall take part in the meetings of the emergency committee in a consultative role but without voting rights.
“The president shall convene the emergency committees meetings. If a meeting cannot be convened within an appropriate period of time, decisions may be passed through other means of communication.
“Such decisions shall have immediate legal effect,’’ reads part of the constitution.
Online Reporter