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Omega Sibandas

Sports Reporter—
THE Twine Phiri saga continued to rage in the domestic game’s administrative corridors, with ZIFA insisting that the Premier Soccer League chairman would have to be formally endorsed by the assembly in order to represent the top-flight body on the association’s board. ZIFA have also turned to their electoral committee to set the record straight on Phiri’s legitimacy.

The electoral committee’s report is expected to be released today. ZIFA vice president Omega Sibanda yesterday issued a statement in which the association maintained their position that Phiri was not eligible to sit on the new board that was ushered into office on December 5.

The new leadership torched a storm when they ordered fresh elections at the PSL and the Zimbabwe Women Football since these positions on the board are not directly elected by councillors.

This meant that Phiri — who was re-elected PSL chairperson in March last year by the clubs — would lose his place in the new board, but the defiant CAPS United vice president told the media that he was not going anywhere since the league’s constitution says it’s only the clubs that can recall him.

However, Sibanda yesterday said the decision to call for fresh elections at PSL and the Zimbabwe Women’s Football, which had no substantive chairperson, was aboveboard. Sibanda said the mandate of all the members in the previous board became null and void on October 3 when the councillors congregated at Prince Edward School to recall the leadership. In a statement released yesterday, Sibanda said since all members of the previous board were kicked out, the new board was following the association’s constitution and wants fresh elections at PSL and the Zimbabwe Women Football.

“Notice is hereby given to all football stakeholders at large that the Zimbabwean Football Association Constitution is the supreme statute for Association football in Zimbabwe. “On the 3rd of October 2015 the Zimbabwean Football Association Extraordinary Congress duly revoked the mandate OF ALL MEMBERS of the then Executive Committee, and further resolved to conduct elections for the appointment of a new Executive committee.

“In terms of Article 32.1 of the ZIFA Constitution, the Executive Committee of ZIFA comprises of eight members all of whom must derive their mandate from Congress. Six members of the Executive Committee including the president and vice-president are directly elected by the Congress. It is a matter of public record that on the 5th of December 2015, the ZIFA Extraordinary Congress duly elected six Executive Committee members in accordance with Article 32.

“The other two additional members of the Executive Committee according to Article 32.1 comprises of:

“a. One member representing the Premier Soccer League appointed by the Premier Soccer League and installed by the Congress. It is clear that on the 5th of December 2015 Congress did not install any Executive member appointed by the Premier Soccer League. The installation of an Executive Committee member by the Congress who is appointed by the Premier Soccer League remains outstanding.

“b. One member representing Women’s Football appointed by the Zimbabwean Women’s Soccer League and installed by the Congress. Again this did not take place on the 5th of December 2015 as Congress did not install any Executive member appointed by the Zimbabwean Women’s Soccer League. Therefore the installation of an Executive Committee member by the Congress who is appointed by the Zimbabwe Women’s Soccer League remains outstanding as well.

“Accordingly the ZIFA Executive Committee in its inaugural meeting on the 7th of December 2015 duly resolved to direct both the Premier Soccer League and Zimbabwe Women’s Soccer League to promptly initiate the process of appointing members who will be presented to Congress for installation so that the Executive Committee of ZIFA can be fully and properly constituted in terms of Article 32 of the ZIFA statute.

“The ZIFA Executive Committee would like to assure football stakeholders and Zimbabweans at large that they uphold and respect the ZIFA Constitution which is the supreme statute for Association football in Zimbabwe. “The electoral committee report will be out by Friday (today) and will deal extensively with the PSL/ Twine Phiri issue,” said Sibanda.

The storm torched by the Phiri saga has also left many critics wondering whether the domestic game could afford another series of boardroom fights at the expense of key issues afflicting Zimbabwean football.

There have also been calls for Phiri and the ZIFA board led by Philip Chiyangwa to bury their differences and embrace the call made by FIFA development officer for Southern Africa Ashford Mamelodi for the national football leaders to put behind the election mode and put shoulders to the wheel for the development of the country’s biggest sport whose image has taken a severe battering over the last decade.

Phiri has become the centre of attraction since Tuesday when the new ZIFA board announced at the end of their maiden meeting that that they had directed the Premier Soccer League to hold fresh elections to choose a chairman as the CAPS United shareholder’s tenure had expired.

After initially indicating that the ownership changes at CAPS United had necessitated the need for PSL to second a representative to the board, ZIFA yesterday turned around and claimed that Phiri had ceased to be a board member on October 3 when the association’s assembly revoked the mandate of the entire Dube leadership. CAPS United had in a letter to the PSL, clarified that Phiri was their representative on the league’s board of governors and that statement from Makepekepe seemed to have put a lid on the matter.

But in what also appeared to be a shift in goalposts on the part of ZIFA they indicated that the Phiri case was a constitutional mater that would also need to be clarified by the Nare committee. The Phiri saga has also cast ZIFA lawyer Ralph Maganga under the spotlight with many neutrals questioning whether the Harare legal practitioner is giving the board the right advice which would not leave the association with egg in the face.