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Sports Reporter
UNDER-PRESSURE ZIFA have convened yet another meeting with Warriors coach Callisto Pasuwa and his manager Gibson Mahachi on Monday as they battle to put into motion Zimbabwe’s preparations for the 2017 African Cup of Nations assignment against Guinea.
ZIFA are racing against time to ensure there is order in the Warriors camp with the first step being to entice Pasuwa to reverse his decision to walk away from his jobs with the senior team and the national Under-23 side.
Chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze emerged from a marathon meeting that ended after 8pm last night to announce that ZIFA had tasked a three-member team to meet with Pasuwa and his manager and try and thrash a deal that would culminate in the coach inking a contract.
Mashingaidze said board members Fungai Chihuri and John Phiri would team up with him when they meet with Pasuwa and Mahachi on Monday morning where they are hoping to come to an agreement that will pave the way for the coach to resume his stint with the Warriors.
“After a log meeting of the board, it was resolved that the issue of the national coach Callisto Pasuwa be dealt with as matter of urgency.
“The board resolved that John Phiri, Fungai Chihuri and I should meet with the coach and his manager on Monday and come out with an agreement that should pave the way for a con- tract.
“Thereafter there will be a meeting with the prospective sponsors who have tentatively agreed to cater for the coach’s package and provide him with a car as well and we will furnish them with the figures after meeting the coach and his manager.
The ZIFA chief executive said they were also aware that the preparations for the Group L qualifier in which the Warriors will host Guinea in Harare on September 6 were behind schedule.
Mashingaidze said the board had during yesterday’s deliberations also resolved to submit their report on the public inquiry that was carried out by the Sport and Recreation Commission on the problems bedeviling football.
“It was also resolved that the next CHAN qualifier against Lesotho will be played in Bulawayo as a way of spreading the national game,’’ Mashingaidze said.
Mashingaidze also revealed that ZIFA would undertake a staff rationalisation programme “in line with our four-year strategic plan and the recommendations from FIFA’’.
It emerged that ZIFA just like many organisations and companies had resolved to take advantage of the Supreme Court ruling that found that employers retained their common law rights to dismiss employees unilaterally on three months’ notice for staff with three years or more of service.
Broke ZIFA have previously been dragged to court by former employees who challenged their dismissals with the association incurring huge costs from the litigation and are likely to send a number of workers home under the ruling.
ZIFA lawyer, Ralph Maganga and Chihuri and Mashingaidze will make up the committee that has been tasked with reviewing the association staff complement and recommend those for retrenchment.
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