Online Reporter
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
SOUND corporate governance and the local football administration seem to be strange bedfellows!
For unknown reasons, the country’s football governing body – Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) – failed to meet its October 29 deadline for notification to candidates of the outcome of vetting.
Contacted for comment ZIFA chief executive, Yvonne Manwa said: “The electoral committee will let us know, they are working with their published roadmap.”
The last section of the ZIFA electoral committee official announcement of the 2025 election roadmap, titled TRANSPARENCY AND INTEGRITY, reads: “The electoral committee assures all football stakeholders that these elections will be conducted fairly, transparently, and in full accordance with FIFA and ZIFA electoral principles. Stakeholders are urged to respect the official roadmap and to participate constructively in rebuilding football governance across all structures.”
But the electoral committee failed to respect the official roadmap by failing to produce the list of candidates and the outcome of their vetting exercise by October 29.
Candidates interviewed by Post Sport, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution during the electoral process, complained about the electoral committee’s lack of sincerity in their working deadlines.
Said one candidate: “It is sad that the electoral committee pleaded for sincerity and respect of the electoral roadmap, but here we are, they have failed to meet their own deadline. This obviously eats into time for complaints and appeals that might arise after the announcement of the list of candidates and outcome of the vetting process.”
Another candidate said the electoral process itself started on the wrong footing by publishing the roadmap on the same day the nomination opened.
“If you go through the electoral roadmap, you will notice that it was published on October 6, the same day that nominations opened in terms of the ZIFA Electoral Code. One would have expected that, under normal circumstances, the notice for election is given a day or days before the opening of nomination and not on the same day. That only shows some element of disorganisation within the process,” he said.
According to the electoral roadmap, November 6 is the deadline for completing missing documents.
December 6 was set as the date for the Eastern Region elections to be held in Masvingo, where administrators for the Men’s Eastern Region Division One League, Women’s Eastern Region Division One League, Men’s Provincial Leagues and Area Zones will be conducted.
Masvingo, Mashonaland East and Manicaland constitute the Eastern Region.
December 7 was set as the date for the Central Region elections to be held in Gweru, where similar structures will be set up in Midlands Province.
On the same date, the Northern Region will also have its elections in Harare for Harare, Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland West provinces.
December 13 was set as the date for the Southern Region elections in Bulawayo for structures to govern football matters in Bulawayo and Matabeleland North provinces.
