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Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
A COALITION of forces is preparing the stage for a High Court showdown with ZIFA to force the troubled association to hold a Joint Congress by June 16 or have its leadership stripped of the right to remain in charge of the crisis-ridden sporting discipline.
This follows a decision by ZIFA chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze to defy a FIFA order that the association hold a Joint Congress — where the Extraordinary and Annual General Meeting will be held simultaneously — following a boardroom coup that briefly ousted Cuthbert Dube from his post as leader of domestic football.
Mashingaidze has, instead, only called for an annual meeting on June 27 and all the signs are that the ZIFA leaders are laying the groundwork for a bloodbath with a number of domestic football leaders set to be crushed in a brutal purge.
The ZIFA chief executive’s decision to only call for an annual meeting is a departure from the roadmap set by FIFA and, crucially, the coalition of forces believe, a violation of the ZIFA Constitution, since it violates the councillors rights to call for an Extraordinary meeting, which are protected by the Constitution.
FIFA even acknowledged the councillors’ rights to call and hold an Extraordinary meeting when they communicated with ZIFA and, in a rare case, with the councillors themselves last month.
“However, and given the fact that the ZIFA Executive Committee has to convene an extraordinary General Assembly within three months, if one third of its members makes the request, we recommend that, provided the 29 signatories represent one third or more of the ZIFA members, ZIFA hold the Extraordinary Congress by 16 June 2015, at the latest, in order to comply with the ZIFA Constitution,” FIFA Deputy Secretary-General, Markus Kattner, wrote in a letter delivered last month.
“Due to the current financial constraints ZIFA is facing, we advise (FIFA’s diplomatic word for ‘order’ when communicating with Member Associations) ZIFA to organise both the Congresses on the same day meaning the Extra-ordinary Congress requested by the so-called ZIFA Councillors, with an agenda comprising their items, and the ordinary Congress (AGM) ZIFA was planning to organise at the end of June with an ordinary agenda . . .”
However, Mashingaidze hasn’t called for that Joint Congress and, instead, only called for an annual meeting set for June 27 where the issues set to be dealt with, include, among other things, dismissal and suspension of members.
This week, Mashingaidze also sent a letter bullying the affiliates to confirm whether or not they attended the May 16 meeting, saying that indaba was organised outside the framework of standard meeting procedures with certain individuals driving the agenda to oust Dube.
He also claimed that stationery used at that meeting might have been sold from ZIFA Offices and ordered the affiliates to confirm, whether or not they attended that meeting by end of day yesterday, so that he could compile a dossier of who was at that indaba.
However, this appears to have strengthened those opposed to such repression, backed by their belief that the ZIFA leadership were violating their constitution and then hiding behind their bullying tactics to hammer them into submission, and a Coalition of Forces has now come together to take on the leadership of the national game with everything pointing to a High Court showdown.
There is also a feeling, within that coalition, that the ZIFA leaders’ desperation to bully them appears to be driven by an agenda to hide something, especially the Association’s finances, which has been a contentious subject and revelations this week, showing the breakdown of the funds that came from FIFA in the past five years, has convinced them that there is something explosive that is being hidden.
“The next week will be interesting and this whole football fiasco will have to be decided by the High Court because there is a deliberate attempt by those at 53 Livingstone Avenue to intimidate us and cover their tracks, even when they know that they are violating the very Constitution that should guide us,” sources within that Coalition told The Herald.
“There is no going back now because, clearly, it’s either them or us since it’s very clear that they don’t want to be held to account for their actions , even when millions of dollars of public funds are coming into their coffers and need to be properly accounted for.
“The desperation is so clear that it becomes easy for anyone to see that there is something huge that is being hidden because, when you add up the affiliation fees and the money that has been coming from FIFA in the past five years, the income should be around $7 million but, despite all that, we have a debt that is around that mark and you ask yourself, what could $14 million have been used for?
“We have passed the point of no-return and it’s time we fight to get back this game and take it to the people.”
Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters Association president, Eddie Chivero, said they were in full support of those who were fighting to get football back to the people.
“We have noted with great concern and have been monitoring the events that have been unfolding in our football and as ZNNSA we have consulted widely with our stakeholders and came up with a resolution to take the football leaders head-on and, as fans, we have a stake in the game and can go to the High Court too, where the Constitution is being violated and ensure that a national sport is not run like a private company,” said Chivero.
“We are aware of the victimisation machinery that has been set and all the letters being written by Mashingaidze to try and frighten the Councillors and we want to tell them that we are fully behind the Councillors and we will fight in their corner to the very end.
“We hope that Cuthbert Dube is aware of where he is being dragged by his chief executive and why he keeps seated on the driver’s seat, when the ship is clearly sinking, defies all logic but we are convinced that the end is coming soon and, this time, there will be no second chance.”
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