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ZIFA have unveiled a new disciplinary committee which they hope will clear the backlog of cases and ensure adherence to the game’s statutes by its various members. The association has been battling to clear a growing number of cases that were threatening to turn the national game into a lawless jungle.
Zifa yesterday appointed a five-man committee that includes former Fifa, Caf and Zifa panel referee Wilfred Mukuna, long-serving member of football’s judicial bodies and former magistrate Andrew Msengezi and lawyers Musekiwa Mbanje, Wilbert Mandinde and Watson Muchengeti.
The committee is expected to immediately get down to work and will be one of three judicial bodies under Zifa with the others being the Appeals Committee and the Ethics committee.
Zifa president Cuthbert Dube, in commissioning Msengezi, Mukuna and their committee, said a culture of lawlessness had been prevailing in the game owing to the association’s weak disciplinary structures.
Dube however, said the quintet they had appointed had committed themselves, “to serving in our disciplinary committee whose establishment is in conformity with Article 51 of the 2009 Zifa constitution’’.
“Football has ground rules without which the game would be manageable. Statutes are an important guardian of any institution.
“An institution which cannot discipline its members is no better than a ramshackle structure in the middle of a desert, whose members can behave in any manner they deem fit.
“The association has a long history of disciplinary cases which exposed our statutory frailties to an extent that the errant individuals would misbehave, knowing well that nothing would be done by the institution.
“Discipline is of paramount importance and hence the need to overhaul our disciplinary structures. We are aware that the football terrain is riddled with mischief, misdemeanour and general lawlessness. The culture of lawlessness has been compounded by the weak structures and statutes and hence the need to have the association’s disciplinary committee restructured.
“Zifa has over the past two years been operating with support structures whose members were either compromised or were not in it at all. Such structures are susceptible to the whims of corrupt mischief makers.
“The tragedy of such a scenario will see individuals manning such judicial bodies succumbing to forces of corruption and bribery and football becomes the ultimate loser,’’ Dube said.
The Zifa boss said his association would continue to review their judicial bodies in a bid to reinforce them and ensure the game is protected.
“We shall continue reinforcing our judicial bodies in the wake of catastrophes like local match-fixing, international match-fixing and illegal betting, embezzlement of funds and general moral decadence.
“At no point should local football be found with weak judicial bodies as that would militate against the association’s crusade to defend resolutely the pristine values and ethos of football.
“Our judicial bodies should deal emphatically with cases that bring football into disrepute.
“Local football today declares zero tolerance to all forms of indiscipline. We urge the committee to be firm in dealing with individuals and institutions who bring the game into disrepute.
“We have in our midst individuals and instructions who think that they are bigger than football and beyond reproach.
“Such dangerous characters are a liability to an institution like Zifa which needs the goodwill of fans, the corporate sector and other stakeholders.
“Crimes against football are no better than crimes against humanity and the institution of football through its judicial bodies shall ruthlessly descend on enemies of football,’’ Dube said.
The Zifa president said the association’s secretariat would provide the material resources which the committee needs to start discharging its duties.
“When real duty calls, real men and women rise to the occasion. Football needs competence and dedicated men and women who shall put all else behind in defence of football’s ethos. The committee shall be immediately resourced through the secretariat with all the literature and or resource material they may require,’’ Dube said.
Msengezi, a former Bulawayo, Rusape and Harare magistrate is not new to the disciplinary structures having served on both the Zifa and Premier Soccer League’s committees and chaired the top-flight body’s disciplinary committee between 1999 and 2001.
In accepting their appointment, Msengezi the committee members felt honoured to be given the task of trying to bring sanity to the game.
Online Reporter