Chronicle Editor
Zimpapers Sports Hub
FOLLOWING months and weeks of consultations, the Zifa Congress meets in Harare this morning to ratify amendments to their constitution and effectively set the tone for the football association’s elections early next year.
Today’s annual general meeting will lay the groundwork from which the Normalisation Committee that has been running Zifa would then put the roadmap that will culminate in elections to choose a new president and his executive committee, commonly known as the board.
Should the indaba at a local hotel proceed smoothly, as is largely expected, it would pave the way for Normalisation Committee chairman Lincoln Mutasa to put in place structures for the staging of the January 2025 Zifa board elections.
And in keeping with tradition, any Zifa elections always torch wild interest from within the football family and various stakeholders.
Before Mutasa has even opened his nomination court, the game has in the last few weeks been abuzz with speculation on who could become the next substantive Zifa president following Felton Kamambo’s ouster in 2022.
There are no official candidates yet for the Zifa presidency but that too has not deterred social media from going viral with speculation while even chancers and opportunists have shown interest in the post.
But the onus in any Members Club, has always been, with its bona fide membership who form the electoral college.
Similarly the privilege in the Zifa processes will be on the councillors to bring finality to the constitutional review process that has gone on for nearly four years.
Some of the councillors in the fabled Congress told Zimpapers Sports Hub yesterday that there was general consensus among the members to emerge from today’s meeting with an amended constitution, which will form the basis upon which domestic football will be run.
Zifa’s constitution was last amended in 2013.
Kamambo had begun the constitutional review process before it was wrecked by the Covid-19 pandemic and later Zimbabwe’s suspension by Fifa also stalled progress.
But to their credit, the Sport and Recreation Commission, the Normalisation Committee and Fifa worked hand in glove to ensure the amendment process was completed as one of the key pillars to the Zifa reforms.
According to the agenda circulated by Zifa, Mutasa is also expected to give his activity report from the time he came into office in July 2023 to September 2024.
There will also be discussion on the Zifa audited reports covering the period of 2021 to 2023 and the report of the electoral committee.
But the focus of attention is largely on the amendments that Congress proposed on the Zifa Statutes.
Now the ball is in the councillors’ court as they seek to ratify or reject clauses in the draft of the amended constitution.
Zifa Masvingo province chairman Naboth Magwizi seemed to capture the mood of the Congress yesterday when he said councillors were happy to have been afforded a chance by Fifa and the Normalisation Committee to have their input on the constitution.
“This is a straightforward meeting and we do not expect any glitches,’’ Magwizi said.
“We met earlier on as councillors and agreed on the clauses.
“Then we sent our representatives from our respective clusters, be it Premier Soccer League, regions, provinces or women to the working committee that consolidated the input from the members.
“So, it is not a meeting about fresh discussions on new proposals or new items, it is about ratifying what was agreed when councillors were working on the draft,’’ Magwizi said.
He added that Fifa representatives had on their visits to Zimbabwe provided guidance on the constitution amendments process and had asked members to meet and find common ground ahead of today’s indaba.
It is against the background of the groundwork that has been done that another councillor noted that today’s indaba is expected to end amicably.
The councillor who requested anonymity also felt that “this meeting is not different from any other annual meeting”.
“As Zifa Congress the members will have to confirm that the articles in the draft before them are reflective of the contributions they made.
“The business of the AGM is merely to approve resolutions already reached at committee levels or during the preceding EGMs (Extraordinary General Meeting),’’ he said.
However, nothing can be taken for granted at a Zifa meeting of this nature amid a chequered history of chaotic scenes rocking some previous meetings.
But there is pressure on the councillors to have a logical conclusion to their meeting and avoid forcing Fifa into extending the tenure of the Normalisation Committee.
Should the councillors lose their heads and fail to resolve anything meaningful, Mutasa will be forced to dissolve the assembly and use the Normalisation Committee’s discretion to choose from among the Congress who to work with, amid fears of severe ramifications of such a drastic move.
Given that any provisions which are not part of the draft are not going to be entertained, it is not expected that the meeting will be a marathon that could spread beyond today’s proceedings.
Online Reporter