PREMIER Soccer League (PSL) chief executive officer, Kennedy Ndebele has emerged from his cocoon following allegations he is responsible for fuelling antagonism between his organisation and Zifa, accusing an unnamed executive committee member of the mother body of having an agenda “to settle old scores”.
BY FORTUNE MBELE
Ndebele was responding yesterday to allegations contained in Keni Mubaiwa’s appointment letter as the PSL ad hoc chairperson, authored by Zifa president Philip Chiyangwa.
Mubaiwa’s appointment follows the suspension of PSL chairperson, Peter Dube last month for alleged improper conduct during the Zifa congress on October 29.
In the letter written on December 10, Chiyangwa said Mubaiwa was “required to interview and compile a report on the conduct of one Kenny Ndebele, particularly the manner he has fostered and sponsored a breakdown of the relationship between Zifa and the Premier Soccer League in violation of the Zifa constitution”.
Without mentioning names, Ndebele said a Zifa member was out to even the score and he was not surprised by the allegations.
“I am not surprised by such allegations because I have seen it coming,” he said. “I have been informed that plans are that I must be removed from the PSL because there is a certain individual within Zifa, who is out to settle old scores with me.
The grudges date back to 2003-2004 when I was Highlanders chairperson.
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It has been public information that I am the target and it has nothing to do with football. When Dube was suspended, I was informed that they said I was the next target.”
Mubaiwa, who has been reserved on his appointment by Zifa, is expected to report back to the mother body today on his findings in Ndebele’s presence.
Ndebele said he had no reasons to fuel divisions between Zifa and the PSL as he had been prepared to work with Chiyangwa in the stillborn National Football Association of Zimbabwe (Nafaz).
“I accepted to work under Philip Chiyangwa in the ill-fated Nafaz because my desire was to see that our football develops and football bodies work in harmony. This is a testimony that my desire is to unite and not divide people. My desire was to help the new president [Chiyangwa] to come up with progressive policies for football,” he added.
Ndebele, whose contract with the PSL expires in two weeks’ time, said he was prepared to walk away if the clubs deemed it fit.
“I am an employee of the PSL and only responsible for implementing the decisions of the board of governors and their ad hoc committees in terms of article 47 of the league’s constitution: which states (a) implementing decisions passed by the congress with the chairperson’s directive and (c) organise the congress and meetings of the emergency meetings and other bodies.
I am appointed by the PSL on the basis of an agreement governed by private law. I am prepared to step down from football immediately if the majority of the PSL clubs ask me to do so. I have been involved in top-flight football for the past 16 years and I have learnt a lot from people like Leo Mugabe, Vincent Pamire, Rafiq Khan, Twine Phiri, Tapiwa Matangaidze, Tendai Madzorera and Cuthbert Dube whom I have worked under in football,” he said.
Ndebele said he would not respond to the other contents of the letter written to Mubaiwa, but was disturbed by the allegations levelled against him in the letter, which is now in the public domain.
In the letter, Mubaiwa has been ordered to implement a number of measures to reform the PSL, which include facilitating a forensic audit into the PSL’s affairs from 2009 and to deal with issues of the league’s sponsorship with particular mention of the SuperSport deal for the live television broadcasting of top-flight matches
