Saintfeit, Zifa trial date set

Saintfiet might have recently found a new job at Tanzanian giants Young Africans following brief stints in Ethiopia, and Nigeria, but he continues to stalk Zifa long after his failed bid to become the Warriors coach.
The Belgian has also now taken to the Fifa headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland to try and force Zifa to pay him for the services rendered during his abortive romance with the Warriors. Zifa are facing charges of allegedly employing Saintfiet without having first secured a work permit for the Belgian.
The association’s chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze — the principal figure at the soccer mother body’s secretariat — is expected to stand in the dock when the trial begins at the magistrates’ court and prove that they did not breach the country’s Immigration Act in their attempt to hire Saintfiet to take charge of the Warriors 2012 African Cup Nations qualifying campaign.
Zifa are accused of contravening section 10(1) of the Immigration Act as read with section of 36(1) (j) of the same Act.
The Act states that:
“No person shall employ a visitor to carry on an occupation unless the visitor has been issued with a work permit authorizing such employment’’.
It is the State’s case that on October 21, 2010, Zifa contracted Saintfiet as the Zimbabwe senior soccer team head coach. A contract of employment was then designed and signed by Saintfiet.
Immigration officials, it is alleged, checked with Zifa officials who admitted that they had employed Saintfiet, a foreign coach without first securing a work permit for him.
Zifa then had their appeal to have Saintfiet granted a work permit turned down by the Department of Immigration in December 2010. The former Namibian coach was ordered to leave the country on October 5.
He had earlier in the afternoon conducted his second Warriors training session at the National Sports Stadium’s B arena in the company of the man he had earmarked to be the senior team’s goalkeepers’ coach Lutz Pfannestiel and local assistants Richard Tswatswa and Madinda Ndlovu.
Mashingaidze, set to make a return to the court, nearly a week after he appeared at the same venue on another case related to his alleged kidnap by some alleged extortionists, confirmed that he would represent Zifa but declined to discuss much about the Saintfiet case before the matter has been dealt with by the courts.
“At the moment I cannot say much now about the court case because it is now subjudice but I can confirm that Zifa had applied for a permit but the permit did not come out but the fact that he went to training is being viewed by Immigration as a violation of the Immigration Act so the trial in the matter between the Department of Immigration and Zifa before a Harare magistrate has been set for Tuesday 24 July.
“Tom has also taken his case to Fifa where he is claiming that we should compensate him for loss of earnings which we are disputing but we have to deal with the case in the magistrates’ court first before we can seal the fate of Tom Saintfiet,’’ Mashingaidze said.
Should they be found guilty of breaching the Immigration Act, Zifa could find themselves being fined by the court.
While it would appear that Zifa have a case to answer at the magistrates court, the association seems to have a fighting chance in their battle against Saintfiet at Fifa given that the Belgian’s contract could have been a nullity until was validated by a work permit.
Controversy also seems to be following Saintfiet on the continent.
His appointment in Nigeria as a technical director on a four-year contract with a US$20 000 monthly salary caused an uproar in the vast West African nation and just like his bid to coach the Warriors, the move suffered a still birth after the Nigerian Football Federation rescinded their decision.
There were reports however, that the Belgian was suing the NFF for breach of contract but the Nigerian government countered that through Sports Minister Bolaji Abdullahi who argued that no contract had been entered into between the coach and the association.
The Nigerian government also maintained that Saintfiet had not been issued with a work permit.
Interestingly Saintfiet also left Namibia in a huff and had wanted Zifa to fund his buy-out from the contract he had with the Namibia Football Association.