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FORMER Caps United president Twine Phiri this week refused to vacate his office as the Premier Soccer League president arguing that he was duly elected by the members. This came after the new Zifa board asked the league to provide it with its representative on the board following the revocation of the entire board on October 3, which Phiri was part of.

The PSL was represented by 13 clubs in that meeting and none of them objected to Phiri leaving the board.

Since the PSL slot in the Zifa board is not an elected one, Zifa was right to ask the League to provide it with a name. Phiri, however, argues that he is the rightfully elected PSL president who must sit on the Zifa board representing the league.

While it is true that he was indeed duly elected, circumstances at Caps United and what happened during the Zifa extraordinary general meeting on October 3 have meant that leadership changes are now required at the PSL.

Phiri lost his Caps United presidency to Farai Jere, who in turn appointed Lewis Uriri as the club chairman while Phiri became the vice chairman.

Article 21 of the PSL statute clearly spells out who sits on their congress. Part Two of Article 21 reads;

“Delegates must be the chairman/chairperson or president of the member that they represent and be appointed or elected by the appropriate body of that member. They must also be able to produce evidence of this upon request.”

No one questioned Phiri’s position at Caps United and so Uriri’s letter is totally of no significance to the situation at hand. Phiri is the Caps United vice chairman who has no right to sit in the PSL assembly and until Jere appoints him as chairman, it will remain as such.

Phiri’s mandate as a Zifa board member was revoked together with the rest of the committee on October 3 meaning he no longer had the locus standi to be in the PSL by virtue of him losing control of Makepekepe.

The league was then supposed to regularise their position with regards to their president within the 60 days so that their candidate of choice could be rectified by the assembly during the elective EGM on December 5.

Since they did not do that, it means even if they are to nominate someone to sit on the Zifa board, that person will not sit on the board until the next congress in February or unless there is another extraordinary meeting before then.

And the Zifa constitution does not say the chairman of the PSL must sit on the Zifa board. Article 32.3 of the Zifa constitution says one member representing the PSL, appointed by the league and installed by the congress shall sit on the Zifa board meaning ordinarily any of the 16 delegates can be appointed by the PSL to represent the league on the Zifa board.

The same constitution says in the event the president is no longer eligible to remain in office, the vice chairman, in this case Peter Dube, takes over until the next elective congress of the league. It’s as simple as that!

If Caps still want Phiri to represent them in the assembly, why did Uriri attend the EGM on December 5 as the club representative? A PSL congress has 16 members, why then did we have 17 members representing the league on December 5?

So, Cde Phiri I think your time is up and in IsiNdebele we say kusinwa kudedelwana. The PSL law book was endorsed by you and its time to follow it. The law is an ass, my good friend Phiri. It knows no colour, tribe, and religion.

Below are the PSL and Zifa statutes relevant to the Phiri saga:

PSL statute

Article 21 Delegates and votes

1 The Congress is composed of 16 delegates. The number of delegates is allocated as follows:

a) The 16 clubs of the Premier Soccer League; each 1 delegate

2 Delegates must be the Chairman/ Chairperson or President to the Member that they represent and be appointed or elected by the appropriate body of that Member. They must also be able to produce evidence of this upon request.

3 Each delegate of the same category of Member has an equal number of votes in the Congress. Only the delegates present are entitled to vote. Voting by proxy or by letter is not permitted.

Zifa statute:

Article 32 Composition

1 The Executive Committee consists of 8 members:

l 1 President, elected by the Congress

l 1 Vice-President, elected by the Congress

l 1 member representing the Premier Soccer League, appointed by the Premier Soccer League and installed by the Congress

l 1 member representing Women’s Football, appointed by the Zimbabwe Women Soccer League and installed by the Congress

l 4 other members, elected by the Congress.