Zimpapers Logo

Kenny Mubaiwa

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE uncertainty over the relegation and promotion issue was put to rest yesterday with Zifa confirming that all the four regional Division One champions will be promoted to the elite league while two will face the chop from the Premiership.

In a statement yesterday, Zifa president Phillip Chiyangwa also said Dynamos chairman Kenny Mubaiwa has been appointed acting chairperson of the Premier Soccer League. Mubaiwa has been chairman of the PSL emergency committee which has been running the league.

“The Zimbabwe Football Association Executive Committee hereby informs the football fraternity and the nation that TWO teams will be relegated from the Premier Soccer League in the just ended season and FOUR teams will be promoted into the top-flight league for the 2017 season,” reads the statement signed by Chiyangwa.

The position now awaits Zifa congress for rectification.

“The Zifa Executive Committee has also appointed Kenny Mubaiwa as the Acting Chairperson of the Premier Soccer League and he is authorised to represent Premier Soccer League clubs as their chief.

Advocate Lewis Uriri remains suspended from all football activities after he rejected the association’s kind gesture to lift his suspension. Peter Dube, Ndumiso Gumede, Philani Ncube and Jerry Sibanda also remain suspended until the next Zifa congress,” says the statement.

Uriri resigned as a board of governor in the PSL last week, according to a letter he wrote to other governors where he also accused some unnamed governors of backtracking on agreed resolutions.

“I am disappointed to learn that there are some amongst us who contend that the resolutions of congress are ‘Uriri’s baby’, and that I instigated congress to pursue a confrontational path against Zifa. The suggestion that [because of my instigation] some governors would not have voted the way they did is as dishonest as it is unfounded. I certainly do not have that kind of influence over congress. In any event the suggestion that we engage Zifa as soon as possible and that a negotiated settlement was in the best interests of football came from me.

You will observe gentlemen, that I have copied my club president in this email. This is because having agonized over the unfair treatment I appear to be getting from some of us, my decision to stay on in football was a huge mistake. I have my law practice as well as my other business and family interests to take care of. Sports administration is a sacrifice that I have had to make. In the result, I have decided that my club president immediately assumes the governorship of Caps United FC. I will, as per my previous wishes, commence the process of a smooth disengagement from all football related matters at all levels of the game,” reads part of Uriri’s letter to his fellow governors.

— @ZililoR