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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
THE ZIFA board yesterday co-opted three new members to fill vacancies created by the recalling of their colleagues by the association’s Congress recently.
Addressing the media after their first board meeting held in Harare yesterday, interim ZIFA president Gift Banda announced that experienced football administrators Martin Kweza, Kenneth Mhlophe and Alois Masepe were co-opted via board resolution.
The ZIFA board was left with four members following the recalling of former president Felton Kamambo and board members Philemon Machana and Bryton Malandule.
Banda also revealed that former ZIFA Central Region chairman Stanley Chapeta, who was co-opted by the previous board, will take his place in the new set up.
The Bulawayo businessman explained the criteria used in settling for the trio, who they believe will add value to the game because of their vast experience in football administration.
“With regards to the members that we have co-opted, I think there is no one in the Zimbabwean football fraternity who doesn’t know the names that we co-opted.
“We were looking for the experience of people who understand football. Mhlophe is a former Highlanders chairperson, Kweza is the current chairperson of the ZIFA Northern Region.
“Masepe is the chairperson of Harare City Football Club. So the names that we are bringing in are of people who we thought are going to bring value to the committee because of their experience in running soccer,” said Banda.
Banda was appointed interim chairman following the revocation of Kamambo’s mandate. Kamambo and his board were summoned by the Congress to answer to charges of mismanagement and corruption among other issues on April 23.
The trio of Farai Jere, Sugar Chagonda and Barbara Chikosi were exonerated and allowed to continue with their duties. But the axe fell on Kamambo, Machana and Malandule.
The ZIFA board was at the same time under suspension by the Sports and Recreation Commission, after more or less of the same charges proffered by the Congress were raised by the sports regulator.
However, the intervention by the Sports Commission attracted the wrath of FIFA who responded by suspending Zimbabwe’s membership from the international family of football because of “third party interference.”
Banda told journalists yesterday that engagements were continuing with FIFA, as the country continued to look for local solutions to the domestic football administration challenges.
“We have always said that we are engaging. There is no country that has ever been banned permanently. It’s only a matter of time. “We just need to make sure that when we get back to playing international football again our house is in order. We don’t want to be doing business on a game to game management.
“I want us to have proper structures that will assist us. Even those that will come after us are going to make sure that they follow the right structure for football to benefit at the end of the day.
“So worry not about us coming back to play international football because we are going to come back. We don’t want to pre-empt things but we are moving. You will see certain results in the not so distant future,” said Banda.
Among the key resolutions made by the board yesterday was the appointment of Women’s Football League boss Chikosi as chairperson of the troubled ZIFA Referees Committee.
The ZIFA Referees Committee has been under fire for a number of questionable decisions such as appointing inexperienced match officials to preside over big matches.
Investigations on the ground also appear to suggest that some referees were fast tracked to the ZIFA panel within two years of acquiring class three licence, causing a lot of discomfort within the refereeing corridors.
The committee was chaired by Malandule before the suspension of the ZIFA board and the eventual recalling of his mandate. Malandule also faced accusations of sexual harassment against female referees.
“Ms Barbara Chikosi will assume the role of the Referees Committee chairperson to replace Briton Malandule whose mandate was revoked on 23 April. She will work with the current committee members to come up with a report for the board’s determination.
“I think we all appreciate that there has been quite a lot of talk about the referees and we have said as a board we don’t want to take any action, if there was going to be any, without getting a proper report coming from the Referees Committee. So we have tasked Barbara Chikosi to work with the committee and come up with a proper report for our next board meeting,” said Banda. The ZIFA board also resolved to embark on internal processes to deal with chief executive officer Joseph Mamutse’s continued absence from work. Banda also said the forensic audit of the association’s books will continue with full support from the executive committee and its findings will be publicised once the exercise is complete.
As a departure from tradition, the executive committee resolved to pay a courtesy call on all former ZIFA presidents in their all-inclusive approach to deal with domestic football challenges. The association also agreed to work with the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee on Anti-doping programs for all local clubs and national teams. In terms of restructuring, the association has requested a report from the constitutional review committee.
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