adminRicky Zililo, Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Football Association has decided to do away with by-elections for Central and Northern Regions after calls by some councillors that they are expensive.According to Zifa councillors who spoke on condition of anonymity, a meeting was held in Harare last weekend where a motion was moved to let the regions continue until the end of their term without filling the vacant posts.
In the Central Region, members were supposed to vote for a new secretary-general after the position fell vacant when Wellington Ngulube resigned last year. The Northern Region was supposed to vote in a new chairman. Zifa suspended Solomon Mugavazi, the Northern Region chairman, from all football activities for his involvement in Asiagate.
The football motherbody – Zifa – has already started preparing for the 2014 elections with their chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze on record as saying that the electoral committee will be announced soon.
The Zifa board will identify individuals who will constitute the Zifa Electoral Committee and those short-listed will then be ratified at the assembly meeting which will be held on 28 September. The Zifa Assembly is expected to meet at the end of the month’s special general meeting whose main agenda will be to ratify and adopt the new constitution which will guide next year’s elections.
Polls for lower structures will be held in January. Regional elections are slated for February while the Premier Soccer League and the Zifa board elections will be held in March. Mashingaidze confirmed that some councillors have expressed their views to have the by-elections cancelled but said they are waiting for the new Zifa Electoral Committee to advise them on what steps to take with regards to by-elections.
“At this stage we cannot say much on the by-elections as we are waiting for the councillors to first confirm the members of the Zifa Electoral Committee which will be done at the special general meeting on 28 September. It is the electoral committee that can advise us on what to do with the matter and let’s hope the views of the councillors will be taken into consideration,” Mashingaidze said.
The late Charles Moyo was the chairperson of the outgoing Zifa Electoral Committee which also has Tererai Gunje, Tim Sangarwe, retired referee Kenny Sigoba, Zifa lawyer Ralph Maganga and Mashingaidze as an ex-officio member.
Online Reporter