Despite what has been said and written, the impending Zifa elections have turned out to be the most controversial in the history of Zimbabwean football.
BY CHRIS SAMBO,OUR READER
The composition of the nomination court has been challenged in court by veteran journalist Hope Chizuzu. While acknowledging that the application was dismissed as not urgent, it does contain some prima facie evidence of serious deficiencies in the appointment of the nomination court.
Lifelong Footballers’ Trust have challenged the eligibility of Phillip Chiyangwa citing that he does not have five years’ football administration experience. Despite this, the nomination court cleared him and the Trust is now threatening to take the matter to court. There have been allegations of massive bribery of councillors.
Zimbabwe cannot afford another disputed Zifa election. A product born out of such controversy will not attract corporate support. Fifa official Primo Corvaro at the meeting that outsted Cuthbert Dube warned: “Zimbabwe football could disappear altogether if the country doesn’t get their affairs in order. Whoever is going to take over has to be strong as Zimbabwe will not be getting immediate financial assistance from Fifa.” We do not need another Dube scenario where the organisation will end up being funded by an individual. The Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) should have acted by insisting that the elections could not be held before the implementation of the SRC-sponsored Madangure Commission of Inquiry which had recommended the dissolution of the current Zifa Council.
Football in Zimbabwe is the most powerful constituency with more than 10 million supporters. Its destiny cannot be decided upon by 58 councillors who are open to bribery. The Zifa council needs to be reconstituted with a broader represenation that would also include supporters either through their clubs or authentic supporters’ organisations with accountable structures.
There should be constitutional amendments to accommodate this critical change. The election that brought Kalusha Bwalya into office in Zambia had more than 200 councillors voting. Perhaps a council of that size could be our starting point.
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The Sports minister will then put in place a normalisation committee to run until 2018. During that period, our focus would be on rebranding and putting in place junior football structures. Fifa will not term this as government interference as we would be putting in place recommendations whose process was derived from our statutes.
Not withstanding the controversies surrounding these elections, it is very unlikely that they will bring about a long-term solution to our problems, but provide certain indviduals with a forum to fulfil their egoistic needs.
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