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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
BASKETBALL Union of Zimbabwe (BUZ) affiliates have appealed to the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) to intervene in resolving a breach of constitution by their federation, that has seen the secretary-general Charmaine Chamboko holding two positions.

Chamboko, who has been the BUZ secretary-general for three years, before being appointed to the position of Zimbabwe Olympic Committee (ZOC) chairperson for media, communications, public relations and diplomacy in April this year, was supposed to have resigned from BUZ to pursue her new role.

Bulawayo’s Giants basketball club were the first to highlight that Chaponda’s appointment was in breach of Article 35, Section 11 of the BUZ constitution, which states that the secretary-general and assistants may not hold an official position, within provincial or national or international sports structure outside FIBA.
Last week, BUZ met and directed Chamboko to respond, something that affiliates feel is a ploy by the federation to circumvent the constitution.

“Something is fishy, first, BUZ has been avoiding this matter for a while and now that it has spilled out of the boardroom, they say the SG (Chamboko) must defend herself. What’s there to defend when the constitution is clear on the matter. She must step aside as BUZ secretary-general, allow affiliates to get in her replacement.

“We can’t have a situation where BUZ appear to be trying to evade the constitution. Right now, we heard that BUZ wanted ZOC to come and mediate, but we can’t have that because we are an affiliate of the SRC. Over the years BUZ has taken pride in being one of the federations that abide to the constitution and they must demonstrate that. What we’re asking for is that if BUZ can’t deal with this issue, maybe it’s time to involve the SRC,” said a source.
BUZ president Joe Mujuru said Chamboko was supposed to submit her heads of argument on Friday.

“I am aware of that issue and I can tell you that the executive committee met last week on Thursday and directed Chamboko to put in writing her response by Friday.

“We haven’t dealt with an issue of that nature before and we will try by all means, in a professional and transparent manner, to deal with this matter.

“We have already written to provinces updating them on way forward,” Mujuru told our Harare Bureau