adminCANDIDATES holding lower positions in Zifa will be required to relinquish them before contesting the mother-body’s election at the higher level, an official has said.
Zifa lawyer Ralph Maganga said the electoral committee was compiling a report that would plug several anomalies noted during last weekend’s elections.
At the election that ushered in Philip Chiyangwa as Zifa president, three sitting regional chairmen, Felton Kamambo, Piraishe Mabhena and Musa Mandaza contested for board member positions while still holding on to their posts.
While Mabhena and Kamambo were victorious and hence relinquished their old posts, Mandaza fell back to his old post as Southern Region chairman.
Maganga said the Zifa constitution was silent on the matter but they hoped to bring clarity with recommendations set to be made by the Sello Nare-headed Electoral Committee.
The EC was expected to handover their recommendations to the Zifa secretariat on Friday afternoon.
“The recommendations are coming through today (Friday) afternoon and I cannot pre-empt what amendments are likely to be made as several issues came up during the elections and the report will mainly focus on these. I think one clear issue is that of having sitting councillors who want a higher position contesting while holding on to their position,” said Maganga.
Maganga said in the case of the old constitution one had to resign before seeking a higher post which meant elections for the vacant lower posts would be held before the Zifa board elections contrary to the current situation.
The Zifa legal representative said the electoral recommendations would not be made public before being presented to the Zifa board.
Maganga said the electoral committee report was likely to bring clarity to the contentious issue of the Zifa board order to the Premier Soccer League to hold elections to elect a new representative. The board contends Twine Phiri is no longer the chairman of Caps United a team he represents in the PSL.
While Zifa insists the PSL has to hold elections, the affiliate has backed Phiri saying he was their chairman who should occupy a position in the Zifa board on their behalf.
Zifa justified their actions arguing that the mandate of the previous Zifa board had been revoked on 3 October and the new board had been given a fresh mandate through elections hence affiliates with members who were in the previous board are also obliged to hold elections and that includes the PSL and Zimbabwe Women Football.
In a statement, Zifa said the body’s constitution states that additional members of the executive committee from the PSL and ZWF should be installed by congress but that had not been the case with the two affiliates’ representatives.
Online Reporter