Gumede calls for FIFA normalisation committee ABANDONED . . . The ZIFA headquarters at 53 Livingstone Avenue was locked, with no-one at work yesterday. — Picture by Innocent Makawa

Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter

VETERAN football administrator, Ndumiso Gumede, believes FIFA must come up with a normalisation committee to lead Zimbabwe football rather than suspend the country from its family of nations.

The Highlanders president, who is a former ZIFA vice-president, feels the Warriors should not be denied a chance to play at the 2021 AFCON finals in Cameroon.

Gumede is considered the most authoritative administrator in the nation’s flagship sports code with about 45 years of service in its trenches.

He believes local football has been veering off course, for some time now, and an intervention, to try and stop the slide, was necessary.

On Monday, at their board meeting in Harare, the Sports Commission suspended the ZIFA board over a number of allegations, including gross incompetence, in the management of the game.

There are fears that, in the worst case scenario, this could lead to FIFA throwing Zimbabwe out of international football.

The Warriors would then not be able to feature at the 2021 Nations Cup finals.

However, the Sports Commission say theur are ready for any possible sanctions, from FIFA, and disqualification from the AFCON finals will be a sacrifice worth the mission.

“My own take is that FIFA took too long to get involved,’’ said Gumede. “And, now, they must put a normalisation committee, rather than ban the country.

“There are many people who could hold the reins temporarily as they prepare for the election of a ‘new’ board.

“We must avoid jeopardising our AFCON participation.’’

Africa’s most successful football nation, Egypt, are under the leadership of a normalisation committee while such bodies have run football in Cote d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Dominican Republic, Comoros, Iraq, Venezuela, Namibia and Trinidad and Tobago.

In August this year, FIFA extended the mandate of the Egyptian Football Association normalisation committee until January 5 next year.

It was appointed in August 2019 after the resignation of EFA president, Hany Abou Rida, and the entire board.

Rida and the board resigned after Egypt’s shock 0-1 defeat by South Africa in the Round of 16 of the 2019 AFCON.

The normalisation committee consists of chairman Amr Youssef Hassan El Ganainy, deputy chairman Gamal Mohamed Ali and three members – Sahar Abdel Hak Ahmed, Mohamed Fadl Zahran and Ahmed Abdallah Rady.

Gumede said he was in full support of the hardline stance taken by the SRC stance of finally wielding the axe on the ZIFA board.

“On the suspension of ZIFA Board by SRC, it was expected,’’ he told The Herald.

“There have been far too many scandals reported on ZIFA and the scare tactics about FIFA bans just create an atmosphere of uncertainty.

“FIFA, itself, has failed to act quickly to allay the fears of the nation.’’

The SRC board have had engagements with various stakeholders, including FIFA, over the past two years, to try and resolve the challenges related to the game’s poor governance, in this country.

“Regrettably, it will be the players who will be adversely affected,” said Gumede.

He said it was unfortunate the suspended board flexed their muscle and withdrew match officials from the midweek league matches that were lined up across the country.

He was one of the people who had thronged Barbourfields in anticipation of the league match between Bosso and in-form Ngezi Platinum.

“It’’s a sad development affecting our treasured sport. I was at BF having driven from my rural home at Nyathi,’’ he said.

“It seemed odd that the referees had not done their warm-up routine and no announcement was made of the predicament.

“Rumours ran around that the referees who had arrived were told not to officiate.

“It is unfair to the paying spectators, some of whom had taken unofficial leave, to watch the game.’’

Gumede called for a speedy resolution to the impasse in domestic football.

“A solution is required as soon as possible,” he said.

An interim committee is likely to be announced, any time from now, by Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister, Kirsty Coventry.

“I think what has happened and without pre-empting too much, what will happen next is that an interim committee would be appointed, the Minister is the one who is responsible for that,’’ said SRC boss, Gerald Mlotshwa.

“Our job as SRC is to make those recommendations to the Minister, we have got a list of names, and I believe they are good credible people.

“And, it is those people that will come in and start dealing with things from the administrative perspective rather than this board getting involved.’’

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