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Eddie Chikamhi
Senior Sports Reporter
THE members of the ZIFA Assembly yesterday said they are hoping for a speedy resolution to the domestic football crisis so that the Warriors will be able to participate in the 2023 AFCON qualifiers.
The ZIFA secretariat and the working committee of ZIFA Assembly members that engineered the Extraordinary General Meeting that ousted the troubled association’s president Felton Kamambo and two board members Philemon Machana and Bryton Malandule, are today expected to write to the Sports and Recreation Commission to appraise of the resolutions from Saturday’s meeting and the way forward.
The ZIFA councillors on Saturday unanimously voted to recall the trio and retained the rest of the members of the executive committee, who include Premier Soccer League and Women’s Soccer League chairpersons Farai Jere and Barbra Chikosi, as well as Sugar Chagonda.
Gift Banda is now the acting president.
ZIFA Northern Region League chairman Martin Kweza told The Herald yesterday that they are hoping to get the approval of the Sports Commission and FIFA and have Zimbabwe’s suspension from international football lifted on time for Zimbabwe to participate in the AFCON qualifiers.
“What is important at the moment is that we have 50 percent of the board in place, after the revocations.
“In terms of the constitution, that 50 percent can still run the board until the end of the term but if they feel the load is too much for them, then they can still consider co-opting more members.
“But remember the ZIFA board is still suspended by the SRC, so these guys cannot start their operations immediately because of that suspension.
“So the working group and the ZIFA secretariat will have to engage the SRC and try to convince them to lift the suspension.
“The EGM, which in our view as the football parliament was successful in trying to resolve some internal problems stalling our football, was just one hurdle that we have completed. There is still a lot of work to be done,” said Kweza.
Zimbabwe were suspended by FIFA in February after the world football governing body ruled that the suspension of the ZIFA board and the establishment of a Restructuring Committee by the Sports Commission constituted “third party interference”.
FIFA have made it clear the suspension can only be lifted once the suspended board was reinstated.
The board is likely to be reinstated without Kamambo, Machana and Malandule, who are also facing fraud and corruption charges at the courts. Kweza said they are set to plead with the Sports Commission to expedite the lifting of Zimbabwe’s suspension from the international football family which is threatening their participation in the 2023 AFCON tournament. But it remains to be seen whether FIFA will endorse the latest decisions.
Zimbabwe were given a ray of hope after CAF involved the Warriors in the draw conducted last week
The Warriors were drawn to face Morocco, South Africa and Liberia but can only participate if the FIFA suspension is lifted two weeks from the kickoff of the qualifiers.
“In everything that we are doing, we are not losing sight of the 2023 AFCON tournament. We would want our team to participate in the qualifiers, and we are grateful to CAF for the opportunity they extended.
“So we would want to make sure that all the processes are done on time for the qualifiers.
“I am sure all the parties are aware of the urgency of the need to lift the FIFA suspension. So there is need to work with speed.
“I am sure all the papers should be in place by tomorrow (today) and we should be able to approach the SRC with the hope of working with them on the need to get all the suspensions lifted,” said Kweza.
The ZIFA Congress also emphasised the need for harmony between the ZIFA executive committee and the Sports Commission.
“We are one with the SRC; we do not want to fight with the SRC.
“It’s a Government arm, we respect them and we want our relationship to grow and continue for the sake of football,” said Kweza.
The highly-anticipated EGM, which waspresided over by ZIFA lawyer Chenaimwoyo Gumiro, had 45 of the 58 Congress members in attendance. Although all members of the board that was suspended by the Sports Commission last November were invited to answer to charges levelled against them, Kamambo, Machana, Malandule and Stanley Chapeta were conspicuous by their absence.
But that did not stop the meeting from proceeding. During the same indaba, the trio of Premier Soccer League and Women’s Soccer League chairpersons Farai Jere and Barbra Chikosi, respectively, as well Sugar Chagonda were afforded the opportunity to respond to charges against them.
He explained the logic behind installing Banda as acting ZIFA president.
“In terms of our constitution, when Gift Banda was suspended by the then-executive, he was supposed to be brought before Congress in terms of the constitution, and Congress was supposed to determine whether he was guilty and then expel him or lift the suspension.
“This did not happen and the constitution is very clear: It says if that doesn’t happen, the suspension falls away and the member remains part of the board.
“So, technically, what it means is that Banda is the vice president of ZIFA at the moment.
“Again, in terms of the constitution, it is very clear that in the absence of the ZIFA president, the vice president shall take over and act as the president until the next Congress, where an election can be held if necessary,” said Kweza.
Congress also tasked the board with coming up with a roadmap for elections. “One of the things that they are going to do is to make sure they come up with a roadmap that will lead us to the election.
“It will cover the appointment of the electoral committee and appointment of the constitutional review committee.
“We tasked them also to carry out a forensic audit and we tasked them to do a structural reform; this is going to be done by the football people, and that’s ZIFA,” Kweza said.
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