Zifa rules out elections

ZIMBABWEANS may have to wait a bit longer before the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) holds its elections from Area Zone to the Board as the Normalisation Committee (NC) yesterday said it is seized with regularising the constitution.

Zifa said the constitution will guide the electoral process as the electoral committee will be derived from that process.

The constitution is an important detail on the way forward for the game which has not had peace since 2003 when Leo Mugabe was booted out.
Over the years, there have been complaints over the composition of the Zifa Assembly and the quality of its members.

With three months to go before June 30, the day on which the Normalisation Committee’s (NC) tenure will come to an end, an extension looks on the cards.

They were put in place in July last year after the Felton Kamambo-led board was booted out by members in April of 2022 before Fifa confirmed their exit with the announcement of the Lincoln Mutasa led NC.

In response to questions sent by Zimpapers Sports Hub on the issue of elections yesterday afternoon, Zifa’s response was: “The Normalisation Committee is presently seized with regularising our constitution, which is the first step towards normalising the Zifa Assembly, which will lead to the establishment of the electoral committee and ultimately elections,” said Zifa.

The elections will be across the whole footballing pyramid.

“Once this process has been concluded, elections will be held to deliver a Zifa Assembly we can all be proud of.”

Zifa also spoke of the appointments they have made in recent months, some of which have attracted criticism.

“Our appointments have been for the most part long term, with periodic performance-based reviews put in place in order to ensure that appointees are meeting their targets and meeting the expectations of the association.”

Zifa have appointed Jethro Hunidzarira, a former Zimbabwe Saints gritty midfielder, as technical director and he is expected to put Zimbabwe football on a development trajectory.

There is a strong belief that the few football success stories have been accidents as the national association through respective Zifa boards and technical directors has not had a clearly defined development pathway and a national football philosophy.

Zifa also disclosed that the Young Warriors will depart for Lilongwe, Malawi on Sunday to take part in a four-team tournament which the senior team that leaves on Monday has been invited to.

“The foreign-based players called up are flying directly into Lilongwe from their respective bases,” Zifa said.