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Sports Reporters
TWINE PHIRI yesterday came out guns blazing, insisting he was still the Premier Soccer League chairman and dismissed claims by the new ZIFA board that he had ceased to be the top-flight body’s leader following ownership changes at CAPS United.

New ZIFA president Philip Chiyangwa emerged from his board’s maiden meeting at ZIFA House on Tuesday afternoon to announce that Phiri was no longer the PSL chairman and that the top-flight body would have to elect a new chairman.

Chiyangwa claimed that the directive for a fresh election to choose a chairman at PSL has been necessitated by the fact that Phiri was no longer the CAPS United owner.

But the CAPS United vice president, who is now a 20 percent shareholder at the Premiership giants, was in a defiant mood yesterday suggesting that the ZIFA president ought to have been better advised by the association’s lawyer Ralph Maganga on the legitimacy of Phiri’s tenure as PSL chairman.

Maganga attended the board meeting that resolved to order a fresh election at PSL.

Phiri insisted that he was the legitimate elected PSL chairman and cited the ZIFA and PSL constitutions which clearly spell out how he is elected and why he sits on the ZIFA board.

The Harare businessman, who has been at the helm of the PSL since 2010, yesterday said he will not leave his post as he has the mandate of the clubs to represent them on the ZIFA board until 2018.

Although Phiri was a member of the previous board led by Cuthbert Dube and whose mandate was revoked by the councillors on October 3, he just like Women’s Soccer League boss Miriam Sibanda was not directly elected onto the ZIFA board.

Their positions on the ZIFA board came via the affiliate bodies they lead and while Sibanda’s mandate was also revoked by the women’s constituency, there has been no indication from the PSL clubs that they no longer want Phiri as their leader.

It is against this background that the new ZIFA board also find themselves in contravention of the constitution they have been called upon by FIFA and all the game’s stakeholders to uphold.

However, Phiri’s future as the leader of the league was put under the spotlight on Tuesday when the ZIFA board resolved in their first meeting that a new leader be put in place at PSL because of the changes that took place at CAPS United.

But Phiri yesterday said the directive by the football mother body was not in tandem with the league’s constitution.

ZIFA’s bid to discredit Phiri also received a major blow amid indications last night that CAPS United — through their board of directors chairman Lewis Uriri — wrote to the PSL management clarifying that the businessman remained their representative on the league’s board of governors.

“I think there was some misunderstanding there. We are guided by the PSL constitution and we will follow the provisions of the constitution.

“I was given the mandate by the Premiership clubs and it’s for four years. Accordingly, it’s only the PSL clubs that can revoke my services and not anyone else,” said Phiri.

“I also have the mandate from my club to represent them in the board of governors.

“In any case, it’s not like one has to be the majority shareholder of a club to be on that board.

“If you look at it, some of the members are employees at their clubs, for instance at company -owned teams like Triangle, How Mine, FC Platinum, etc they have been seconded by their clubs to represent them on the board of governors.

“So I think we need to sit down with the ZIFA board and try to clarify some of these things and show them the light,” said Phiri.

ZIFA chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze also conceded that the decision on Phiri’s fate lay with the PSL clubs, but claimed that as the mother body they wanted clarification on whether he still was the league’s chairman following the ouster of the Dube-led board.

“It is up to the PSL assembly to reaffirm Twine Phiri as their representative on the ZIFA board or to choose a new leader but we are saying at the moment they do not have a legitimate representative on the ZIFA board since the revocation of October 3 also affected the PSL chairman,’’ Mashingaidze said.

But that Phiri has since October 3 continued to execute his duties as PSL chairman even with the blessings of ZIFA pours scorn on the surprise bid to oust him via a re-election.

The move also smacks of direct interference by ZIFA into the affairs of a club — CAPS United — as well as the internal affairs of the 16-member PSL assembly.

Crucially for Phiri he also enjoys goodwill with the sponsors who have come on board at the PSL during his tenure including digital satellite television channel SuperSport who have been beaming the domestic Premiership games to a global audience.

Phiri has also managed to retain the confidence of Delta Beverages who bankroll both the Castle Lager championship and the Chibuku Super Cup.