News / Local
Marriot's ownership claim to dominate Dembare indaba
19 Mar 2022 at 06:37hrs | Views
THE 51 percent share ownership claim by Dynamos board chairman Bernard Marriot is likely to dominate discussion when the newly-assembled Dynamos board of trustees convene their first meeting in Harare this afternoon.
The Harare giants are at crossroads after the club's ownership wrangles resurfaced recently. Last week former Dynamos players challenged Marriot when they formed a 10-member board of trustees led by another club legend Ernest Kamba.
The other members of the board are David George, Moses Chunga, Clayton Munemo, Labani Kandi, Makwinji Soma-Phiri and Gina Kapfunde. They have since advised authorities at PSL, ZIFA and Sports Commission about the move.
Kamba said all was set for the meeting.
"The meeting is going ahead as scheduled. We have an agenda prepared, that I will not go into detail but we are generally going to discuss the current state of affairs in the club and the way forward from here.
"I will only be able to comment further after the meeting. That's when I will be able to say what has transpired and what resolutions have come out of the meeting," Kamba told The Herald on Saturday yesterday.
The former players claim that Dynamos was being run outside the provisions of its constitution. They reckon that order should return to the club by reverting to the Justice Malaba Supreme Court judgement of 2006, which ruled that the club should be run in accordance with the founding constitution of 1963.
The judgment also overturned all the "purported" amendments to the constitution since the processes were not done properly.
The former players claim that Marriot capitalised on the death of most of the club's founding members and "fraudulently" usurped control of the club by allocating himself 51 percent shares while shutting out the rest of the former players.
Marriot's acquisition of 15 percent shares was done at the 2017 meeting. According to the unsigned minutes of the meeting in possession of The Saturday Herald, the other members of the board were given seven percent shares each.
"The board secretary (Chis Kasiyazi Nkosi) informed the meeting that on the 16th of September 2016, he received a motion from (late former treasurer) Mr (Owen) Chandamale which sought the distribution of shares to the Directors and to expand the Board and the Executive Committee among other things.
"The Secretary then requested the chairman (Marriot) to ask Mr Chandamale to formally move his motion before the members. The copies of the motion were distributed to all the members present.
"The motion read a) That membership remains in the hands of the company directors. b) Distribute shares to Directors and share certificates. c) Mr B. M Lusengo as the only surviving founding father to get majority shares (51 percent)," reads part of the minutes of the meeting held on January 22, 2017.
Former Dynamos members have queried on which basis the shares were parcelled out when the constitution said every member of the "electoral college" was limited to just one share.
They also the composition of the quorum of that meeting as most of the people who attended the meeting were not qualified, in accordance with the 1963 constitution.
They said the Judgement handed out by Justice Malaba set out the conditions for meetings and constitutional amendments.
Clause 15.1.1 of the Dynamos constitution states that "founder and former players are the only bona fide members of the club and they are the persons who have the power and the right to change or amend the club's constitution."
The Malaba judgement added, "The 1963 Dynamos Football Club constitution has not been lawfully amended and remains the only lawful constitution of the Club.
"The ownership and management of Dynamos Football Club shall continue in terms of the 1963 constitution until such time as it is lawfully repealed or amended."
However, Marriot said things changed in 1999 when they registered a private company which now controls the club. Marriot has been chairman of the company's board for the past few years.
A standoff is looming in the coming days after Farai Nyamayaro, who serves as board secretary under Marriot's administration, insisted the meeting to elect the board of trustees was a non-event since the 1963 constitution and the Electoral College were no longer in existence.
"The 1963 constitution is no longer in existence. It was repealed when Dynamos Football Club was registered as a company. The team is now being regulated by the provisions of the Companies Act and the memos and articles of association.
"Proper procedures were followed when Dynamos was registered as a company.
"Dynamos was registered as a company in January 1999 by its founding members Josiah Akende, Richard Chiminya, Alois Mesikano, and Bernard Marriot-Lusengo.
"Ever since 1999, there hasn't been any Electoral College meeting as the Electoral College no longer exists. There is now a Board of Directors. It has been 23 years now and the Saturday meeting was a non-event," said Nyamayaro.
The Harare giants are at crossroads after the club's ownership wrangles resurfaced recently. Last week former Dynamos players challenged Marriot when they formed a 10-member board of trustees led by another club legend Ernest Kamba.
The other members of the board are David George, Moses Chunga, Clayton Munemo, Labani Kandi, Makwinji Soma-Phiri and Gina Kapfunde. They have since advised authorities at PSL, ZIFA and Sports Commission about the move.
Kamba said all was set for the meeting.
"The meeting is going ahead as scheduled. We have an agenda prepared, that I will not go into detail but we are generally going to discuss the current state of affairs in the club and the way forward from here.
"I will only be able to comment further after the meeting. That's when I will be able to say what has transpired and what resolutions have come out of the meeting," Kamba told The Herald on Saturday yesterday.
The former players claim that Dynamos was being run outside the provisions of its constitution. They reckon that order should return to the club by reverting to the Justice Malaba Supreme Court judgement of 2006, which ruled that the club should be run in accordance with the founding constitution of 1963.
The judgment also overturned all the "purported" amendments to the constitution since the processes were not done properly.
The former players claim that Marriot capitalised on the death of most of the club's founding members and "fraudulently" usurped control of the club by allocating himself 51 percent shares while shutting out the rest of the former players.
Marriot's acquisition of 15 percent shares was done at the 2017 meeting. According to the unsigned minutes of the meeting in possession of The Saturday Herald, the other members of the board were given seven percent shares each.
"The board secretary (Chis Kasiyazi Nkosi) informed the meeting that on the 16th of September 2016, he received a motion from (late former treasurer) Mr (Owen) Chandamale which sought the distribution of shares to the Directors and to expand the Board and the Executive Committee among other things.
"The Secretary then requested the chairman (Marriot) to ask Mr Chandamale to formally move his motion before the members. The copies of the motion were distributed to all the members present.
"The motion read a) That membership remains in the hands of the company directors. b) Distribute shares to Directors and share certificates. c) Mr B. M Lusengo as the only surviving founding father to get majority shares (51 percent)," reads part of the minutes of the meeting held on January 22, 2017.
Former Dynamos members have queried on which basis the shares were parcelled out when the constitution said every member of the "electoral college" was limited to just one share.
They also the composition of the quorum of that meeting as most of the people who attended the meeting were not qualified, in accordance with the 1963 constitution.
They said the Judgement handed out by Justice Malaba set out the conditions for meetings and constitutional amendments.
Clause 15.1.1 of the Dynamos constitution states that "founder and former players are the only bona fide members of the club and they are the persons who have the power and the right to change or amend the club's constitution."
The Malaba judgement added, "The 1963 Dynamos Football Club constitution has not been lawfully amended and remains the only lawful constitution of the Club.
"The ownership and management of Dynamos Football Club shall continue in terms of the 1963 constitution until such time as it is lawfully repealed or amended."
However, Marriot said things changed in 1999 when they registered a private company which now controls the club. Marriot has been chairman of the company's board for the past few years.
A standoff is looming in the coming days after Farai Nyamayaro, who serves as board secretary under Marriot's administration, insisted the meeting to elect the board of trustees was a non-event since the 1963 constitution and the Electoral College were no longer in existence.
"The 1963 constitution is no longer in existence. It was repealed when Dynamos Football Club was registered as a company. The team is now being regulated by the provisions of the Companies Act and the memos and articles of association.
"Proper procedures were followed when Dynamos was registered as a company.
"Dynamos was registered as a company in January 1999 by its founding members Josiah Akende, Richard Chiminya, Alois Mesikano, and Bernard Marriot-Lusengo.
"Ever since 1999, there hasn't been any Electoral College meeting as the Electoral College no longer exists. There is now a Board of Directors. It has been 23 years now and the Saturday meeting was a non-event," said Nyamayaro.
Source - The Herald
