EDITORIAL COMMENT: Zifa should spare us the drama

THE Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) seemingly awoke from a deep slumber this weekend to tell us something we had already pronounced on — that the formation of the National Football Association of Zimbabwe (Nafaz) was highly irregular, and therefore a legal nullity. When we questioned the fraudulent dissolution of Zifa and the manner in which Nafaz was formed on June 4, we were lampooned by some in football circles and even branded haters of football development.

We were chastised for simply highlighting gross irregularities in how Zifa had been dissolved, but we were vindicated this weekend when the supreme sports body in the country, the SRC, declared that Nafaz was illegal.

The SRC simply repeated concerns we had raised about the dissolution of Zifa orchestrated by the association’s president Philip Chiyangwa. We drew to the attention of our readers that the formation of Nafaz had nothing to do with the advancement of football, but a mere attempt at avoiding paying Zifa debts amounting to over $6 million.

SRC acting director-general Mr Joseph Muchechetere described the purported dissolution of Zifa as seemingly fraudulent and in violation of the soccer governing body’s constitution. As such, he said at the weekend, the country’s supreme sports body would not endorse the process which gave birth to Nafaz.

“The SRC is there to safeguard national interests and we cannot be seen giving our blessings to a seemingly fraudulent process,” he said. “The people who are owed money by Zifa are Zimbabweans, their Zifa workers are Zimbabweans and their interests must be safeguarded. There has been a lot of speculation and misinformation but our position as the SRC is that Zifa is not dead and we don’t know about Nafaz, we just read about it.”

He urged Zifa to engage its creditors.

“Some of the creditors are corporates who have been sponsoring football and these are the same people that whatever new association will come to replace Zifa will run to seeking help. Do you think they will assist when they have been treated like this? Zifa should engage its creditors, who include the workers, and present their case. This habit of making wild statements has no place in such a delicate matter,” Mr Muchechetere said.

The problem is that some football officials misconstrued our reporting as being against the dissolution of Zifa, yet we were merely highlighting that the Zifa constitution should be followed to the letter.

It’s shocking that the Zifa leadership breached their constitution in their rushed attempt to dump the association’s debt in pursuit of the much vaunted “starting on a clean slate” at all costs.

It’s also disturbing that some officials are of the mistaken belief that Zifa belongs to its 58 councillors. Those 58 councillors are elected by their respective constituencies, which we pointed out had been disrespected by not being consulted before that flawed decision of June 4 was taken.

How could 58 people think they could just form a new national association without consultations? The mystery of it all is that they “formed” Nafaz and then gave themselves a four-year mandate without any election. In other words, they simply retained their Zifa titles in Nafaz and then tried to pepper things by announcing sub-committees that they had been hesitant to form at Zifa for months.

How embarrassing that they have now been forced to climb down from a fraudulent path they had chosen to travel along, all for not wanting to follow proper procedure.

How will they wriggle their way out of this quagmire they created for themselves? The way forward should have been the appointment of a normalisation committee to revise the Zifa electoral code and conduct new elections because the people tasked with correcting the wrong they wrought have no appetite for proper procedure.

It can’t just be about forming a quorum and a 75 percent vote carrying the day, but proper procedure being followed, which includes validity of membership. This means only members in good standing must be allowed to be part of that extraordinary congress on July 9. All affiliates must be examined and those that aren’t paid up should not be allowed to attend or vote in accordance with the constitution.

For once let’s show some seriousness in the way which we run our football and dump all the drama that has known to be associated with our domestic game. We have enough soap operas on television and are not interested in dramas that continue to dog our beautiful game.

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