Zifa in bid to defer indaba

Sports Reporter
ZIFA chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze yesterday made spirited efforts to try and have the key extraordinary general meeting, scheduled for Harare on Saturday, postponed as the embattled domestic football leadership tries to buy more time to remain in charge of the game.

Mashingaidze even wrote to world football governing body FIFA to try and persuade the Zurich-based organisation to postpone the meeting where the ZIFA Board’s powers to run the country’s national game will be revoked.

The ZIFA chief executive, who feels that the revocation of the powers of the Board will leave him vulnerable, effectively ending his tenure as the leader of the Secretariat, has been trying for the past few months to have the meeting postponed.

His first attempts were rejected by FIFA but, as late as yesterday, Mashingaidze was still trying to get FIFA to postpone the meeting.

He told the world football governing body that ZIFA were not in a position, right now, to finance the indaba after FIFA decided not to release their allocation of funds from the Financial Assistance Programme until the local football leadership unveils their audited statements.

Sources said Mashingaidze also told FIFA that the Association did not have the money to fund the trips for the Councillors to attend the meeting.

Interestingly, the ZIFA Councillors funded their trips when they came to Harare for the last meeting where it was resolved that another indaba be held on October 3.

“The latest is that Mash has written another letter to FIFA asking them to postpone the Saturday meeting citing lack of funds to transport and accommodate the councillors and FIFA have turned down this latest request by Mash and advised him that the meeting should go ahead as planned,” the sources at 53 Livingstone Avenue said.

“FIFA even went to the extent that they were ready to fund the trips for the councillors and meet other expenses should push comes to shove.

“It’s quite embarrassing how Mash has found himself compromised when he should be serving the entire football family, instead of just a few individuals, whom he feels are supposed to remain in charge so that he remains protected.

“The good thing is that FIFA have already told him that their representative, Ashford Mamelodi, is already coming for the meeting and CAF are also sending a representative who is expected to arrive here on Friday.”

Yesterday, Mashingaidze sent a circular to the councillors telling them that ZIFA were currently discussing with FIFA regarding the challenges they were facing in hosting the meeting on Saturday.

“The Zimbabwe Football Association would like to inform members of the ZIFA Congress that the Association is facing serious financial constraints in respect of convening the Extraordinary General Meeting on 3rd October 2015,” Mashingaidze wrote in his circular.

“The constraints in question are a result of four (4) pending international assignments for the women and men’s teams (and) failure to access our FAP tranches from FIFA.

“Consequently, the Association cannot service the full Board accommodation and transport refunds for the delegates.

“We are currently liaising with FIFA on the way forward.”

However, a councillor told The Herald last night that this was all part of Mashingaidze’s plot to try and ensure that the meeting wasn’t held.

“It’s all politics and it’s a shame that it has taken the CEO until this late to see the challenges that he is talking about because this is just another ploy to try and ensure that our voices are not heard by cancelling this meeting,” said the Councillor.

“The issue about funds is ridiculous because the delegates funded themselves when they came to the last meeting and you cannot talk of refunds for the board members today when the same association had three months to prepare for this meeting.

“Our leaders have never been comfortable with having this meeting and they are trying by all means to ensure that it is not held and it’s sad that the CEO has compromised himself because the Council now knows where he stands and he isn’t the kind of fellow that we can let to run the game’s affairs, in the event that the revocation of the mandate of the Board sails through.

“It’s refreshing that the people at FIFA appear to know exactly what is the grand plan and are fed up with all these shadowy plots to deny us the chance to be heard when we are an important branch of the game.”