Businessman Philip Chiyangwa, who became the first person to declare his interest in running for Zifa presidency, does not qualify to run for that post.
BY Kevin Mapasure
Chiyangwa fails to meet one of the key requirements for the post, which compels one to have at least five years football administration experience.
The politician told NewsDay Sport he was consulting to see if he could contest the post, which fell vacant after former president Cuthbert Dube was booted out together with his board at the weekend.
Chiyangwa claims he has already been approached by a number of people within the football fraternity and is currently making consultations. Names of possible candidates have been dominating discourse since Saturday and after Chiyangwa revealed he could be interested, it triggered a lot of debate on the NewsDay website yesterday.
The majority of those who commented on the story were strongly against the former MP taking over the reins at Zifa, while a few believed his experience and links in business could help the troubled association.
But Chiyangwa’s interest will be short-lived once he learns the Zifa constitution does not allow him to stand for a post in its executive committee.
Item four of Article 32 in the Zifa constitution states that: “the members of the executive committee shall have already been in active football administration for at least five years, must not have been previously found guilty of a criminal offence under national criminal law and have residency within the territory of Zifa.”
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Candidatures must be sent to the Zifa secretariat at least 30 days before elections which has been set for December 5.
It will be interesting to see who throws their hat in the ring with names such as Castle Lager Premier Soccer League chairman Twine Phiri having already been suggested as possible candidates.
It is not yet clear whether losing candidates in the last election, Nigel Munyati, Lesley Gwindi and Trevor David Carelse-Juul will also be interested.
It is expected that interested candidates will start jostling and positioning themselves for the posts that fell vacant after the weekend’s developments.
From the seven places in the executive committee, five are vacant, with the president, the vice and three other members’ positions all up for grabs.
