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Cuthbert Dube

Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
THE Sports and Recreation Commission yesterday wrote to Zifa demanding answers by Monday on questions raised by Saidi Sangula in his petition to stop the on-going elections.Sangula, a Harare lawyer and former Zifa board member who replaced Solomon Mugavazi in 2011 is demanding that results of the elections held so far be declared null and void.

Sangula, who has expressed an interest in participating in the elections claimed in his petition that the Electoral Committee, set by the association to conduct the elections, was not duly constituted and its membership structure was in clear violation of the new Zifa Constitution.

“We received the petition and we have since written to Zifa demanding that they answer to the allegations raised. We expect those answers by Monday after which we will take the matter and necessary steps up,” said the Sports and Recreation Commission director-general Charles Nhemachena last night.

The elections in different Zifa structures were held under the auspices of the new Zifa constitution that was lodged and registered with the SRC on November 18, 2013, the same month that an 11-member Electoral Committee was unveiled by the Zifa board, led by its president Cuthbert Dube.

In his petition, Sangula argues that the Electoral Committee membership was flawed in that it was in violation of the new constitution that the association were using as a bible to not only guide their process but also give it legitimacy and therefore everything that has been done under that document, including the results, was null and void.

After the provincial elections on January 26, which were held before the Area Zones in violation of the constitution, Zifa legal advisor Ralph Maganga told Chronicle Sport that they could not hold the whole election process to ransom because of the Area Zones whose house was not in order.

“Procedurally they (Area Zones) were supposed to vote (for provincial office bearers) but because no one from their sector had been voted into office, the electoral college saw it fit to bar them from participating,” said the Zifa legal advisor Ralph Maganga then.

According to the petition by Sangula, the new Zifa Constitution and the Electoral Code that deals with the said subject, are very clear that only members of Zifa can be members of that Electoral Committee “and given the description given by Article 10 of the new Constitution of who can be called a member of Zifa, a number of the people on that Electoral Committee do not qualify for such membership.”

Meanwhile, the nomination for the national Zifa presidency opens today and closes on March 14 with expectations high on who will pick up the papers to challenge incumbent Dube, who is seeking re-election in the March 29 plebiscite.

No other candidate has made a public declaration but indications are that Harare City chairman Leslie Gwindi who challenged and lost to Dube in 2010 might throw in his hat once again.

His fate though is solely on him fulfilling some laid down conditions on his disciplinary case. Warriors’ Chan coach Ian Gorowa, rumoured in some circles to have been interested in changing his coaching prowess for football politics, distanced himself, at least for now.

“Those are just rumours, at least for now as I want to concentrate on coaching and taking Zimbabwean football to where it ought to be,” said the South African based former Dynamos and Black Rhinos forward.