adminSikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
ZIFA provincial elections held at the weekend were done in violation of the organisation’s constitution after Area Zones did not participate in the voting process, it has emerged.Bulawayo Amateur Football Association (Bafa) vice-chairperson Charles Chunda said they were ready for the elections but Zifa postponed them without any reason.
“We were supposed to have held our elections on December 17 last year but Zifa cancelled the elections and said they would advise us on the next date but up to now we are still waiting,” said Chunda who was at the Bulawayo Province elections.
Zifa contends that representatives of the lower league were supposed to vote at the weekend but did not because their own (Area Zone) house was not in order.
“Procedurally they (Area Zones) were supposed to vote but because no one from their sector had been voted into office, the electoral college saw it fit to bar them from participating,” said the Zifa legal advisor Ralph Maganga.
He said the Electoral College made a decision that elections could not be stopped because of the failure to organise Area Zones.
The Zifa legal fundi, however, said the correct and standing position is that elections always start from the bottom going upwards.
Said Maganga: “It’s Area Zones, provincial elections, regional and then national, that’s the procedure but there was no election in the Area Zones, there were no structures to talk about hence the decision to by-pass them was taken.”
He defended the move saying it was above board and legal. A legal expert warned Zifa of a possible court challenge;
“Unless if the Electoral College has a discretion to by-pass an affiliate, that decision can be challenged in a court of law.”
On Friday last week, an aspiring Bulawayo provincial chairman candidate Martin Muza Muzorwenyu filed an urgent High Court chamber application seeking to stop the weekend election arguing that they were being held using a constitution that was not endorsed by the Sport and Recreation Commission.
His application was nevertheless thrown out with costs paving way for the elections to go ahead on Saturday and Sunday.
Londile Moyo
Online Reporter