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Innocent Kurira, [email protected]

HIGHLANDERS are seeking to comply with Fifa Club Licensing requirements by amending its constitution, and members have welcomed the invitation to submit proposals.

The working document was adopted in 2006, the year of their last league championship win.

Members may email or visit club offices to make their submissions, by April 19.  A proposed draft constitution written by card-carrying fundis was rejected by members in 2018.

The amendments may see the CEO’s role defined as a club signatory responsible for all correspondence, including player records and contract renewals, as well as the abolishing of secretary, treasurer and committee member titles and roles.

“The submissions can be made by visiting club offices at 50 Robert Mugabe Way, 4th Avenue or by sending an email to [email protected]. All submissions will be reviewed, including those that have already been submitted,” the club said. A club member, Beke Ngoma, said the move to amend the constitution is welcome.

“It is good to amend a constitution of any particular institution, at the same time avoiding diluting the ethos of that institute.

“In line with how Fifa wants football to be administered, through Fifa Club Licensing, it is prudent for my beloved club to set the pace locally as they have done in many aspects, to be abreast with the minimum requirements of club licensing,” said Ngoma.

He said members must exercise due diligence when making their submissions on what they want added or removed.

“Without being pre-emptive of the process, we need to be thorough in our inputs and the process must be seen to be solely serving the club’s interests in this dynamic world.

“We need to be ahead when Fifa puts deadlines on how it wants football to be run. And we also need to amend where we can, but not dilute everything. Remember the USA as a country has 27 amendments in more than 200 years of existence,” Ngoma said.

Another member, Mlondolozi Ndlovu, concurred with Ngoma, adding that the amendment was long overdue.

“We have several issues at Highlanders where the powers of the board seem to override the executive, so there is a need for those issues to be aligned to ensure there is one centre of power.

“We must also make sure that there are powers for the office of the CEO. We need a CEO judged based on deliverables not to have a CEO whose duties clash with those of the executive committee. Whether the process is correct or not is another issue, but the substantive matter is the constitution being amended,” said Ndlovu.

A life member, Sibekiwe Ndlovu, feels the amendments must have women in mind.

She said some of the clauses have been overtaken by events, while some are no longer relevant.

“I hope that when amending they will have women in mind. As it is, the environment is not conducive for women to contest for executive positions because of how toxic the elections are. In the end, women prefer to distance themselves from contesting for positions.

“I hope to see a new way of holding elections. I think we need some clauses, which specifically empower women. On secretary and CEO positions, one has to be abolished,” said Ndlovu.

At the 2022 mid-year meeting, a committee led by board member Nicholas Nyathi gave snippets into some of the proposals that are already on the table, which include avoiding duplication of duties presently spelled out in the constitution between the executive committee secretary and the CEO.

Another key item to note in the amended constitution is that an ordinary or life member attached to a certain club will not be allowed to participate in decision-making processes of Highlanders such as voting, even though he or she retains membership status. – @innocentskizoe