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Petros Kausiyo Harare Bureau
FORMER Zifa Northern Region chairman Francis Zimunya could face arrest for alleged trespassing and unlawful entry following his ambitious move to try and seize control of the soccer mother body by occupying the Association’s headquarters at 53 Livingstone Avenue this week.

Zifa, through their vice-president Omega Sibanda, yesterday made a report at Harare Central Police station whose reference is IR# 070025 and accused Zimunya and his alleged accomplices — former Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze and ex- Premier Soccer League chief executive Chris Sambo — of unlawful entry at Zifa House.

Sibanda last night confirmed making the report but declined to discuss much arguing that “the matter is now in the hands of the police and as such I can’t comment much about it’’.

“We have made a report to ZRP Central for trespassing and unlawful entry into property against the trio of Francis Zimunya, Chris Sambo and Jonathan Mashingaidze.

“We are a law abiding Association and as such we cannot take the matter of their invasion into the Association’s property into our own hands so that’s why we made a report to the law enforcement agency which is the police.

“They’ll be best to deal with the matter from now on and I can’t comment further about it,’’ said Sibanda.

With Zifa president Philip Chiyangwa away in France for the on-going Euro 2016 tournament, Zimunya claimed he had taken over the Association on the basis that Zifa had announced they were dissolving and had been replaced by Nafaz.

In a move that was as ill-timed as it was ill-advised, Zimunya — leader of the shadowy Lifelong Footballers Trust of Zimbabwe — claimed he was now leading the domestic game through what he termed a “Working committee for the re-establishment of Zifa’’.

That purported palace coup was, however, immediately dismissed by Chiyangwa who insisted he was still in control of the national game having been elected into office on December 5.

Apart from facing possible arrest over his illegal occupation of Zifa House, Zimunya’s actions also drew the ire of Zifa Southern Region chairman Musa Mandaza and the Zimbabwe Soccer Supporters Association leader Eddie “Mboma’’ Nyatanga.

Both Mandaza and Nyatanga branded Zimunya a perennial rabble rouser whose history in football is littered with controversies and fights against any sitting executive at Zifa from the time of Rafik Khan to the current leadership.

Mandaza, with more than two decades in the administration of the game, insisted the Zifa Assembly which is set to meet on July 9 for an extraordinary meeting to debate matters specifically related to an application for dissolution and sequestration, would not allow the likes of Zimunya and Sambo “to emerge from nowhere and destabilise football’’.

“There’s only one Association running football in this country and that association has one leader who was legally elected into office on December 5, 2015 and that leader is Philip Chiyangwa.

“Zimunya was a mere bystander when the elections to choose a new Zifa executive were held and he cannot wake up now and confuse the nation by telling them that he’s the one now running football in this country.

“As an Assembly we may have our own mistakes but we know that we’ll come right and we don’t need individuals like Zimunya to try and cause chaos.

“We were recently in Namibia for the Cosafa Castle Cup and we visited a fabulous football house the NFA built with Fifa funds but we don’t have that here.

“We can’t have a situation where the Fifa funds could go into a pit’’. Both Nyatanga and Mandaza said Zimunya’s chequered history in the administration of Zimbabwean football, made all stakeholders suspicious of his intentions.

“Anyone who knows his history will tell you that he is just fond of fighting whoever is in charge at Zifa without giving anything constructive or helping the game to look for sponsors and corporate partners.

“We will never interfere with his Lifelong Footballers Trust because we have our own structures and as an Assembly we’re going to rally behind Philip Chiyangwa and as the supreme body of football we will take the necessary steps to develop football in the country,’’ Mandaza said.

Nyatanga was even more brutal and labelled Zimunya and Sambo, “part of a bunch of failed administrators who had had their time in the game and failed.

“We gave these people a chance to run our game and they failed. Now they want to use emotional blackmail and claim that they’re fighting for the cause of creditors.

“No-one has said creditors shouldn’t be paid but all that’s needed is peace and dialogue because we all know that football needs those creditors.

“While some of us are already hard at work organising a charter plane that will take our Warriors and the supporters to Gabon for the Nations Cup, people like Zimunya are busy causing confusion and all sorts of disturbances in the game.

“If it’s pound-for-pound then I’m prepared to stand by Philip Chiyangwa because since he has come on board everyone can see that there has been progress in the game and he has managed to secure funding from an individual (Wicknell Chivayo) and what’s important is that there’s stability in our football and our national teams are enjoying success,’’ Nyatanga said.

The ZNSSA leader also warned Zifa employees to guard against “being used by people who have selfish agendas’’.

“Workers know the channels to use if there’s a labour dispute and they must desist from being used by people who are outside football.

“Zimunya and Sambo aren’t Zifa councillors, they’re nowhere near any football structures so where do they derive their mandate to try and run football from,’’ queried Nyatanga.

Nyatanga said he was certain that the Zifa Assembly would not have problems working with “progressive people who have football at heart and not those who are fond of making noise at every turn even if they can’t even organise mineral water for the national teams’’.