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Eddie Chikamhi, Zimpapers Sports Hub
THE ZIFA Normalisation Committee says football officials currently serving in the association’s structures should relinquish their positions before getting nomination for the executive committee positions in the upcoming elections.
The long-awaited elections, which will be held at the Rainbow Towers on January 25, 2025, have ignited interest in the football family following the opening of the nominations last Friday.
The Normalisation Committee chairman Lincoln Mutasa and their legal brains Nyasha Sanyamandwe yesterday explained the election road map flanked by another member of the committee Rosemary Mugadza.
The deadline for the submission of nominations has been set for December 11. Candidates will need to pass an eligibility test before getting to the final shortlist, which will be confirmed on December 23.
Sanyamandwe yesterday said participation in the elections was free to all interested candidates, subject to nomination by the ZIFA members, but conflict of interest will not be accepted.
“If you want to run for exco (executive committee) office but you are still holding a position within the membership structures, the electoral code is very clear. Issues to do with conflict of interest should not be tolerated. So, they should do the needful,” said Sanyamandwe.
The ZIFA executive committee has been vacant since the removal of the previous board led by Felton Kamambo in 2021.
The Normalisation Committee, which was installed by FIFA last year to bring back normalcy in Zimbabwean football following a FIFA suspension, will act as the electoral committee.
However, there have been questions on the credibility of the upcoming elections as the credibility of the delegates that will cast ballots on January 25, has been questioned.
The same councillors have been singled out as the big elephant which needed to be eliminated first by holding elections from the bottom up. The councillors have been accused of contributing to the rot that besieged Zimbabwean football up to 2021 because of corruption and electoral fraud.
“Regarding the credibility of the councillors, we all have different thoughts about different people and opinions but legally speaking if no case has been put forward and then a conviction at least that can incriminate an individual member we cannot do anything about it,” said Sanyamandwe.
“We also need to highlight that law is law. These people are independent, this is what the ZIFA statutes are saying. The councillors are coming and we are not even sure who is coming because they will give us their delegates.”
Mutasa said they were acting on strict instructions from FIFA who said they should concentrate on elections for a new executive committee.
“When we came on board, it was mid-season and already football was being played in the regions. We didn’t want to destabilise the system so we let the status quo continue,” said Mutasa.
“While we were looking at the other mandates, it became apparent that maybe we should start the elections. We proposed to start these elections from the bottom upwards but it was pointed out to us by the FIFA guys that “look that’s not part and parcel of your mandate. Your mandate is to conduct an exco election. The board that comes in will be the one that will now have to address all those issues.”
“So, these are some of the recommendations that we can give to the incoming exco to say “Look this is what we have done and this is what is outstanding” and they can conduct countrywide elections going forward.
“As far as FIFA is concerned they just want the Zimbabweans to choose their people. Clearly what we are trying to do is to be compliant. We want our football to be compliant in all phases,” said Mutasa.
The elections will be held in accordance with the new Electoral code and the new statutes of ZIFA to be adopted by the ZIFA congress.
The ZIFA executive committee shall consist of 11 members including the presidents and the two vice-presidents, of which one should be a woman. There will also be six committee members and two ex-officio members representing the PSL and Zimbabwe Women’s Football.
According to the new constitution, all prospective members of the executive committee should have been residents of Zimbabwe for the two years preceding the election.
They should also have been active in football for at least five years within the previous 10 years. The 40-year age restriction from the previous statutes was maintained with an addition that the candidates for the presidium must have passed a minimum of five O-Levels or have any equivalent educational qualification.
The candidates shall undergo an integrity test to be conducted by the ethics committee, before their election. The ethics committee is headed by veteran legal practitioner, Muchadeyi Masunda. All aspiring members of the executive committee shall not have been previously convicted and sentenced for any offence.
The list of successful candidates will be published in the newspapers on January 15.
The elective congress, which is the last item on the NC’s bucket list, will mark the end of the FIFA-appointed committee’s mandate on January 25, 2025.
“What we have done is to put a road map for the upcoming elective congress, which will be held in January. As the N, we had six mandates that we had to fulfill,” he said.
“We have covered most of them, that is running the affairs of ZIFA, restructuring of the secretariat, review of the ZIFA statutes; we also signed an MOU with the SRC which is a collaborative agreement whereby we sort of agreed with them on the modus operandi and areas of cooperation also in particular paying attention to the issue of sexual harassment.
“Another part of the mandate was the handover of the audited finances to the incoming EXCO (executive committee).
“At the last AGM, we had last month, we primarily managed to get the 2021 and 2022 audited accounts handed over and we are hoping by the time of the elective congress we would have got the 2023 audited accounts completed as well as the accounts for 2024 put together. “Our final mandate was to act as the electoral committee to conduct the elections for the incoming ZIFA executive committee. This we feel is an important role and an important milestone towards bringing our football back to normalcy.
“As the NC we have been restricted in areas that we can indulge in and in things that we can and cannot do but the exco will have the freedom to fully develop the game of football in the country and we are looking forward to it. We are optimistic that the congress will exercise the responsibility that goes along with their positions,” said Mutasa.
Online Reporter