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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE Zifa Appeals Committee has postponed to Friday next week an application for condonation by the Zifa executive.

The condonation hearing, where Zifa wanted the Appeals Committee not to throw away their appeal against a decision by the disciplinary committee to find vice president Gift Banda not guilty of all the charges that the association had preferred on him, suppose to be held in the capital today.

Banda walked free on a technicality after Zifa failed to provide proof, before the Stead Kachere led Appeals Committee, that they had paid the appeal fee as per Article 7.1 of the Zifa Rules and Regulations.

“We have postponed the hearing to next Friday the 26th, reason being we are yet to receive all the written submissions from concerned parties,” chairman Kachere told Chronicle online.

The Banda case has however raised a lot of debate within the legal fraternity with questions being raised on whether Kachere and his team can hear Zifa’s condonation application especially given the reasons why the appeal was thrown out in the first place.

Article 7.1 specifically states that condonation can be heard by the Appeals Committee in the event that there is a late filing of an appeal, not when the applicant, having filed his appeal on time fails to provide proof of appeal fees payment.

Zifa claim that they made the payment on March 9 a day before they filed their appeal papers on March 10.

The matter was then set down for hearing on June 2, exactly 84 days later. In their reason for not having the proof of payment,  Zifa claim that their accountant was affected by the national lockdown, a lockdown that was pronounced 20 days after being told of the sat down date. Why theu did not attach the proof of payment on March 10 since they had already paid , remains an unanswered question. 

They also had 84 days to get access to their accountant but they still found wisdom to go and appear before the Appeals Committee knowing fully well the requirements of Article 7.1 of their Rules and Regulations.