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Grace Chingoma, Harare Bureau

THE Zifa Central Region is vigorously lobbying for last year’s Division One runners-up Sheasham to replace Whawha in the Castle Lager Premiership, but its efforts are likely to hit a brick wall after the topflight league indicated that it’s not taking that route.

Whawha, who got the promotion ticket after winning the Central Region Division One last year, were expelled from the Premiership before the league even started after failing to settle their affiliation fees.

Mutare side Tenax also failed to meet the deadline to settle their affiliation dues and are facing the same fate. Both teams are owned by the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services.

The resolutions at the PSL annual meeting held early this month clearly spelt out that should any of the new boys fail to pay affiliation fees, they will be booted out and the league programme continues with 16 teams.

The PSL maintains that it will release the fixtures as long as it remains with an even number.

However, there is still a possibility that the PSL board of governors might consider teams that were relegated last year in their order. This gives a lifeline to the likes of Chapungu, TelOne, Mushowani and Hwange.

And the Central Region, which promoted Whawha after they pipped Sheasham to the league on the last day, are now lobbying to have the runners-up take up the slot.

Central Region chairman Stanley Chapeta has since written to Zifa asking that the assembly considers Sheasham.

Chapeta feels it is the mandate of the Zifa assembly to promote teams into the PSL.

But yesterday PSL chief executive officer Kenny Ndebele made it clear that the secretariat will follow the board’s resolutions made at the annual indaba on March 6.

Expulsion of the two clubs has generated a lot of interest from their parent regions.

Last week, Eastern Region was also singing in Tenax’s corner that the PSL, which has been postponed indefinitely, should consider the Mutare outfit, which settled its outstanding balance well after the set deadline.

But Ndebele stuck to his guns yesterday.

“The board of governors at the AGM resolved to give the clubs until March 13 to pay, failure of which they will not be admitted into the Premiership,” said Ndebele.

“The board made another resolution that in the event that the clubs failed to pay, they will consider them relegated. But in the event that a team should be considered to replace them, it will be Chapungu, Tel One, Mushowani or Hwange. But it is the wisdom of the board to do so or to stick with 16 teams when the league resumes.”

He emphasised that any team promoted to the PSL follows rules set by the board of governors and he only takes care of the administrative side of the topflight league.

If Tenax paid their affiliation, Ndebele said there is nothing they can do as the administration with board approval. 

“My instruction is to refund all money which was paid and I am yet to receive communication from Tenax to that effect that they paid the remaining affiliation fees after the deadline,” Ndebele said.

Moses Chunga and Rahman Gumbo may have to continue hoping that they may bounce back into the topflight this season should the board finally resolve to co-opt two teams and have the standard 18-team league this season.

Chunga was appointed Chapungu gaffer last month with a mandate to rebuild the Gweru airmen, who relegated from the Premiership at the end of the 2019 season.

Former Warriors’ coach Gumbo chose to stay at TelOne following their relegation to the unfashionable First Division. 

Although Chunga secured the job knowing that Chapungu had been demoted to the Central Region Division One, a ray of hope had filtered for the airmen that they could yet play topflight football again this year.

There had been indications that Chapungu could have been thrust back into the elite league if Herentals had been demoted via a PSL Disciplinary Committee ruling that had docked them three points for alleged match-fixing.

However, Herentals won their appeal to the Zifa appeals board and retained their PSL slot.

But that was not before another door seemed to open for Chapungu amid confirmation that their Gweru city neighbours Whawha had failed to pay PSL affiliation fees on time and had lost their place in the league.

PSL clubs resolved to reduce the size of the league to 16 at their annual meeting should the promoted teams fail to settle their affiliation fees on time and were left with an even number.

The determination of the size of the league would, however, have to be agreed to by the Zifa assembly, which a few years ago torched a storm by increasing the number of to 18 and resolved to relegate four at the end of each season.

It’s a matter the PSL has been constantly fighting, as Zimbabwe remains the country that relegates the highest number of teams in the Premiership each year.