Zifa, Mhofu case deferred

against them in their legal battle against Sunday Chidzambwa rescinded after the High Court in Harare yesterday postponed deliberations on the matter.
High Court judge Justice Anne-Mary Gowora, who was due to hear Zifa’s application in her chambers yesterday afternoon, deferred the case to next Monday morning and asked both parties to tender their written submissions by the end of this week.

Zifa lawyer Ralph Maganga and Chidzambwa’s legal representatives Scanlen and Holderness consented to the judge’s request for them to tender their written submissions to her chambers.
Chidzambwa had, on May 19, won his lawsuit against Zifa – via a default judgment – in which the former Warriors coach is claiming US$67 000 in unpaid salaries.
But Zifa have been arguing that the their dispute with Chidzambwa is a labour matter, which should have been dealt with at the Labour Court while the coach’s legal team contend that the default judgment issued by High Court judge Justice Lavender Makoni should stand.

Chidzambwa’s lawyers were now working on securing a writ of execution in order to attach Zifa property to recover what is owed to their client.
The embattled association, however, had a sigh of relief yesterday when Justice Gowora ordered that there would be no Zifa property attached in line with the default ruling.

“The property remains in situ, no attachment can be effected until I have presided over the matter, I will hear the parties on Monday,” said Justice Gowora.
The judge will in deliberating on the matter next week also deal on the question of jurisdiction of the High Court in making a determination.

But as Justice Gorowa prepares to hear the matter, former Zifa chief executive Henrietta Rushwaya and the association’s immediate past president Wellington Nyatanga have emerged in the legal battle and have thrown their weight behind Chidzambwa. The pair told the High Court that the coach was indeed owed US$67 000 in terms of a contract that Nyatanga and Chidzambwa signed with Rushwaya’s knowledge.
Zifa insist they are ready to pay Chidzambwa only US$13 000, which they believe is the amount that they owe the veteran coach.

However, Rushwaya and Nyatanga have filed supporting affidavits to Chidzambwa’s claim and argued that they entered into the contract with the gaffer which entitled the former Warriors mentor to a US$5 000 monthly salary.

The move by Rushwaya and Nyatanga to fight in Chidzambwa’s corner has pitted them head-on with the association since their departure from the football body for different reasons.
While Rushwaya was fired for questionable management styles, Nyatanga did not seek another term in office at the expiry of his tenure on March 27 last year.

In their affidavits, both Rushwaya and Nyatanga asked the court to dismiss the founding affidavit filed by Jonathan Mashingaidze in his capacity as Zifa chief executive, arguing that the latter did not have the locus standi to do so as he was a “mere training manager when Chidzambwa was hired”.

But Maganga noted with concern the resurfacing of the pair of Rushwaya and Nyatanga in the matter and reckoned that it smacked of double standards on the duo’s part.
“It is quite curious to see Nyatanga and Rushwaya now resurfacing and fighting in the plaintiff’s corner when they were not available for a proper hand over take over when they left the association.

“In fact the association is in the state in which it is because there was no proper hand-over to the new leadership.
“It is also ironic that the same people who engaged the plaintiff (Chidzambwa) and did not pay him are now resurfacing and fighting in his corner.

“I would not say much at this stage because the matter is subjudice but we are just concerned and we are hopeful that we will be given a chance to fight this case in a trial court. All we are praying for is our day in a trial court to defend the claim and if we lose in the trial court then fair and fine but we pray that we afforded the chance,” Maganga said.

Acting Zifa president Ndumiso Gumede is representing the association in the latest High Court hearing.
Zifa president Cuthbert Dube is away in Switzerland attending the Fifa congress.