Sports / Soccer
FIFA to protect Chiyangwa and cronies?
30 Mar 2018 at 08:28hrs | Views
WORLD football governing body FIFA are today expected to make a landmark pronouncement which will be the guiding principle in the resolution of the saga which has exploded in ZIFA in the wake of some boardroom battles for the control of the game.
The domestic football family have been waiting for guidance from FIFA since they approached the Zurich-based organisation for guidance following the meeting of their Congress in Harare last month.
The Herald can reveal that FIFA officials last night reached out to the ZIFA leadership and advised them that a position which will provide clarity in the way the game should move, going forward, will be given.
''The long-awaited FIFA letter on this issue is now done and we have been assured that a letter will be assured sent from Zurich tomorrow (today) and it will bring to finality all the machinations that we have been seeing unfolding in our game,'' ZIFA vice-president Omega Sibanda told The Herald last night.
''FIFA are the supreme body when it comes to association football in the world and their pronouncement is final and they have taken their time and now they are about to give us their verdict in all this.
''We have seen a lot of madness, which is not good for football, but we expected that because we knew that there were some people who were fighting in the shadows and thought that this was the time for them to go for the kill.
''The good thing about all this is that we are about to get finality on the issue and the pronouncement from FIFA will settle all this nonsense once and for all.''
Some hawks have been arguing that the ZIFA leadership term of office expired yesterday while those in power say they will only be guided by a road map which they came up with in February which will culminate in elections being held later this year.
On Wednesday, things took another twist when two ZIFA board members, Piraishe Mabhena and Felton Kamambo, announced they had withdrawn from the leadership on the basis that their mandate had expired.
However, three other board members – chairman Philip Chiyangwa, finance guru Phil Machana and Sibanda – maintained their term of office had not expired, as prescribed by their election road map, and they were waiting for guidance from FIFA.
Chiyangwa even insists his position is not due for elections this year because the ZIFA presidency, according to the constitution, is not a relay and once one is elected, he or she should serve his or her full four-year term unless that mandate has been revoked by Congress.
It also emerged on Tuesday that the Sandton Project - a clandestine mission meant to paralyse operations at ZIFA - was being put together for some time now and it finally exploded when Mabhena and Kamambo quit the ZIFA board.
However, their decision triggered a severe backlash from the game's other leaders who said the move was meaningless and it would be business as usual at the country's football controlling body.
The decision by the two was meant to ensure there won't be enough board members to run the organisation, which needs about half the membership of the eight-member executive committee, for it to retain its mandate to run the game.
The association's leadership said this was a co-ordinated attack on the organisation given it came on the same day Trevor Carelse-Juul, a serial campaigner for the top post in domestic football who has lost in the last two occasions, released a statement sharply criticising the state of the game in the country. Carelse-Juul, the South Africa-based businessman, claimed in his statement the Warriors had ''failed'' to qualify for the 2018 World Cup finals when the reality is that they never took part in the tournament after being expelled without kicking a ball.
ZIFA leaders have been compiling a report dubbed "The Sandton Project" after a number of local football leaders meet in Sandton, Johannesburg, where they hatched a plan to paralyse operations at the Association to trigger elections, as quickly as possible, where they hope to install a new leadership.
The three remaining principals at ZIFA - president Philip Chiyangwa, his deputy Omega Sibanda and finance guru Philemon Machana - said they would remain in charge of the game and dismissed the decision by their fellow board members to walk away as a ''non-event'' while they also received a lot of support from the game's family.
"The Zimbabwe Football Association would like to inform the football fraternity that in accordance with Article 32.1 of the ZIFA constitution, the emergency committee of ZIFA has co-opted Mr Kenny Mubaiwa (PSL Emergency Committee Chairperson) and Mrs Rosemary Kanonge (Women Soccer League Chairperson) to the ZIFA Executive Committee with immediate effect,'' read a statement from ZIFA communications manager Xolisani Gwesela.
However, Mubaiwa wrote back to ZIFA secretary-general Joseph Mamutse saying he could not take up that post on the board.
''I acknowledge receipt and thank you for your letter dated 28 March 2018,'' Mubaiwa wrote.
''Please be advised that I am unable to accept the co-option into the ZIFA Executive Committee as a board member without a resolution from my fellow PSL Board of Governors.
''However, I may consider co-option into the ZIFA Executive Committee should the PSL Board of Governors agree to convene a special congress and unanimously resolve that I accept the appointment.''
However, Sibanda yesterday said the leader of the PSL, by virtue of his position, was a ZIFA board member and the co-option was just to formalise the process.
''The leader of the PSL is a ZFA board member by virtue of his position and it's not the person but the position that gives one that role,'' he said.
''In any case the constitution is very clear in terms of the numbers that are required for the board to remain functional and count the numbers that are there and you will see that it doesn't fall below the 50 percent threshold.''
Mabhena, who had had been absent from the game for a while after undergoing major surgery, was board member in charge of competitions while Kamambo presided over Futsal and Beach soccer.
But members of the ZIFA assembly, as well as the association's legal advisor Itai Ndudzo, said the pair's departures would not have any impact on the administration of the game and the statuses of both the top-policy making body - the Congress - or the executive committee led by Chiyangwa.
ZIFA Northern Region chairman Willard Manyengavana and his Southern Region counterpart Musa Mandaza said the duo's resignations would not impact on the lifespan of the Congress which emerged from a fruitful annual meeting on February 17.
Chiyangwa is in Madagascar at the invitation of CAF where a number of high-powered football leaders from around the world, including FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, will meet this Easter weekend.
Mashonaland Central provincial chairman Gilbert Saika, who is also the spokesperson of the ZIFA provincial chairpersons, maintained there had been no change in the circumstances to the resolutions they had made in January.
The domestic football family have been waiting for guidance from FIFA since they approached the Zurich-based organisation for guidance following the meeting of their Congress in Harare last month.
The Herald can reveal that FIFA officials last night reached out to the ZIFA leadership and advised them that a position which will provide clarity in the way the game should move, going forward, will be given.
''The long-awaited FIFA letter on this issue is now done and we have been assured that a letter will be assured sent from Zurich tomorrow (today) and it will bring to finality all the machinations that we have been seeing unfolding in our game,'' ZIFA vice-president Omega Sibanda told The Herald last night.
''FIFA are the supreme body when it comes to association football in the world and their pronouncement is final and they have taken their time and now they are about to give us their verdict in all this.
''We have seen a lot of madness, which is not good for football, but we expected that because we knew that there were some people who were fighting in the shadows and thought that this was the time for them to go for the kill.
''The good thing about all this is that we are about to get finality on the issue and the pronouncement from FIFA will settle all this nonsense once and for all.''
Some hawks have been arguing that the ZIFA leadership term of office expired yesterday while those in power say they will only be guided by a road map which they came up with in February which will culminate in elections being held later this year.
On Wednesday, things took another twist when two ZIFA board members, Piraishe Mabhena and Felton Kamambo, announced they had withdrawn from the leadership on the basis that their mandate had expired.
However, three other board members – chairman Philip Chiyangwa, finance guru Phil Machana and Sibanda – maintained their term of office had not expired, as prescribed by their election road map, and they were waiting for guidance from FIFA.
Chiyangwa even insists his position is not due for elections this year because the ZIFA presidency, according to the constitution, is not a relay and once one is elected, he or she should serve his or her full four-year term unless that mandate has been revoked by Congress.
It also emerged on Tuesday that the Sandton Project - a clandestine mission meant to paralyse operations at ZIFA - was being put together for some time now and it finally exploded when Mabhena and Kamambo quit the ZIFA board.
However, their decision triggered a severe backlash from the game's other leaders who said the move was meaningless and it would be business as usual at the country's football controlling body.
The decision by the two was meant to ensure there won't be enough board members to run the organisation, which needs about half the membership of the eight-member executive committee, for it to retain its mandate to run the game.
The association's leadership said this was a co-ordinated attack on the organisation given it came on the same day Trevor Carelse-Juul, a serial campaigner for the top post in domestic football who has lost in the last two occasions, released a statement sharply criticising the state of the game in the country. Carelse-Juul, the South Africa-based businessman, claimed in his statement the Warriors had ''failed'' to qualify for the 2018 World Cup finals when the reality is that they never took part in the tournament after being expelled without kicking a ball.
The three remaining principals at ZIFA - president Philip Chiyangwa, his deputy Omega Sibanda and finance guru Philemon Machana - said they would remain in charge of the game and dismissed the decision by their fellow board members to walk away as a ''non-event'' while they also received a lot of support from the game's family.
"The Zimbabwe Football Association would like to inform the football fraternity that in accordance with Article 32.1 of the ZIFA constitution, the emergency committee of ZIFA has co-opted Mr Kenny Mubaiwa (PSL Emergency Committee Chairperson) and Mrs Rosemary Kanonge (Women Soccer League Chairperson) to the ZIFA Executive Committee with immediate effect,'' read a statement from ZIFA communications manager Xolisani Gwesela.
However, Mubaiwa wrote back to ZIFA secretary-general Joseph Mamutse saying he could not take up that post on the board.
''I acknowledge receipt and thank you for your letter dated 28 March 2018,'' Mubaiwa wrote.
''Please be advised that I am unable to accept the co-option into the ZIFA Executive Committee as a board member without a resolution from my fellow PSL Board of Governors.
''However, I may consider co-option into the ZIFA Executive Committee should the PSL Board of Governors agree to convene a special congress and unanimously resolve that I accept the appointment.''
However, Sibanda yesterday said the leader of the PSL, by virtue of his position, was a ZIFA board member and the co-option was just to formalise the process.
''The leader of the PSL is a ZFA board member by virtue of his position and it's not the person but the position that gives one that role,'' he said.
''In any case the constitution is very clear in terms of the numbers that are required for the board to remain functional and count the numbers that are there and you will see that it doesn't fall below the 50 percent threshold.''
Mabhena, who had had been absent from the game for a while after undergoing major surgery, was board member in charge of competitions while Kamambo presided over Futsal and Beach soccer.
But members of the ZIFA assembly, as well as the association's legal advisor Itai Ndudzo, said the pair's departures would not have any impact on the administration of the game and the statuses of both the top-policy making body - the Congress - or the executive committee led by Chiyangwa.
ZIFA Northern Region chairman Willard Manyengavana and his Southern Region counterpart Musa Mandaza said the duo's resignations would not impact on the lifespan of the Congress which emerged from a fruitful annual meeting on February 17.
Chiyangwa is in Madagascar at the invitation of CAF where a number of high-powered football leaders from around the world, including FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, will meet this Easter weekend.
Mashonaland Central provincial chairman Gilbert Saika, who is also the spokesperson of the ZIFA provincial chairpersons, maintained there had been no change in the circumstances to the resolutions they had made in January.
Source - the herald
