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Musa Mandaza

Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE Zifa Southern Region is hopeful tomorrow’s national assembly will provide a clear election roadmap for all affiliates, with chairman Musa Mandaza saying their time was up.

The Zifa councillors meet in Harare tomorrow, three months after assembly members declined to be cowed into an improperly convened annual general meeting.

The councillors, who make up the electoral college, noted that the Zifa executive committee had given an 18-day notice for the AGM instead of 60 days, as stipulated by the constitution.

Zifa’s 2018 elections will be topical at the AGM, with the Central Region having already submitted a motion pushing for an early election.

Phillip Chiyangwa, the Zifa president, has been adamant that elections will be for all other organs, except for the executive, which he says will be held in 2019.

Chiyangwa came into office in December 2015 to complete the remainder of Cuthbert Dube’s term, which expires next month. Dube and his executive were hit by a vote of no confidence, resulting in the December 5, 2015, elections at an extraordinary general meeting.

Mandaza declined to comment on Chiyangwa’s sudden about turn on elections for the Zifa executive, saying as responsible football leaders, his region is of the view that they should not cling onto power when their terms of office have expired.

“I have no comment on what the Zifa president said in newspapers about elections. My hope is that he’ll address that matter at congress. Our terms of office are expiring and this being an elective year, as Southern Region, we’re very much ready to go for elections. We have no reason to cling onto power when our terms are over. It’s absurd to say we don’t want elections,” said Mandaza.

“However, in the same breath, I must say on elections we stand guided by the roadmap that will come from the assembly. We’re aware of the submission made by our colleagues from the Central Region and we’re hoping that the open debate we’re going to have at the assembly will end with fruitful results. At the end of the day, football has to be the ultimate winner,” he said.

It is highly likely that the affiliates will agree to an early election, with some quarters alleging that the Zifa executive committee led by Chiyangwa is clinging onto power for selfish reasons.

“The national executive committee is afraid that its blunders will cost them and they might miss out on the June World Cup to be held in Russia. It’s all for selfish reasons. If we don’t have the motion of an early election sailing through, it means elections will now be held later this year and by then who knows what damage to our football would have been done,” said a councillor.

The Central Region wants appointed members of the electoral committee to take office immediately instead of waiting to be convened after a six-month induction period. The Central Region is also pushing for an amendment of Section 10, which requires candidates to submit their nomination papers “at least 30 days before the Zifa congress is held”. They want the period reduced to two weeks. — @ZililoR