adminNgqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
ZIFA Bulawayo Province chairman, Francis Ntuta, has been endorsed by clubs to lead the body until the next election date.
Ntuta took over the leadership as the vice chairman, in an acting capacity, following the death of then chairman, Washington Chimanda last year.
At the province’s annual general meeting held last Sunday, clubs felt it was proper to plug the vacuum at the top and make Ntuta the substantive chair until next year when elections will be held.
The matter came up as part of the agenda following concerns by clubs of the need to have a substantive chairman.
The issue was raised by Chicken Inn who wrote to the secretariat to have the issue included in the any other business section of the agenda. Clubs felt it was untenable for Ntuta to keep on acting until the 2018 election.
Ntuta confirmed he was affirmed the substantive chairman adding they would not be co-opting a new member to be the vice president according to the dictates of the Zifa executive committee.
“The executive committee decided posts would be left vacant unless there is a serious need to fill them. One example is the Zifa Southern Region, where board member fixtures, Jabulani Chinyangarara passed away last year and the position was left vacant,” he said.
Ntuta revealed they had reduced the affiliation fees for Division Three teams by $100 in order to differentiate them from Division Two. He said the executive saw it as an anomaly that D3 teams paid the same registration fees and D2 teams when in other aspects such as referees’ dues the amounts were lower. Division Three teams will now pay $500 down from $600 for affiliation.
The move could also come in handy as the province seeks more teams to fill in slots in Division Three.
Some teams had recommended doing away with the league after the executive struggled to attract teams with only eight teams competing. D3 games started late as few teams were willing to participate in that league.
“We resolved to keep D3 and look for teams to participate in that league. I believe we will be able to find teams although it might take a little more time, we still believe we need that tier to serve as a further development league and also provide teams for promotion to D2,” said Ntuta.
The Province’s 2016 financial statement did not sail through as they were not audited and teams felt it would be improper to adopt them when they are still to go through auditors as is the norm.
Ntuta said they will present the financial statements at a later meeting after they have been audited.
The Division Two league has been pencilled to kick off on 15 April while D3 will be determined by the number of teams available.
Online Reporter