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Sports Reporter
FIFA development officer for Southern Africa Ashford Mamelodi is expected in the country this afternoon ahead of the watershed Zifa elections scheduled for Harare on Saturday.
Mamelodi who has over the years supervised the Zifa board elections is expected to meet with Zifa president Cuthbert Dube and his deputy Ndumiso Gumede and get an appraisal of the developments in the game including the build-up to the elections.

In confirming Mamelodi’s visit last night Gumede said they would also take the Fifa point man for Southern Africa through the progress that has been made at the Zifa Village whose construction work is funded through the world soccer body’s Goal Project.

“This important meeting has always been on the cards that Mamelodi would arrive in the country two days before the elections. We also have a board meeting on Friday to finalise preparations for Saturday’s meeting that will culminate in elections. “As you know Mamelodi is the man who also supervises the Goal Projects in the region we will have to brief him on the progress we have made at the Zifa Village since his last visit to the country and that is the construction of the conference centre and also the competition of the training ground which has artificial turf.

“Apart from the progress at the Zifa Village, we will also brief him on developments from a football perspective touching on the various activities that have taken place in the domestic game’’.

Gumede said it was also imperative that Zifa appraised the Botswana-based Fifa official on the build up to the association’s board elections which started with polls for the affiliate bodies.

Zifa have twice faced High Court challenges in Bulawayo and Harare on issues related to the staging of the elections and only on Tuesday the association survived an application for an interdict from holding the polls after Saidi Sangula’s bid was dismissed by the Harare High Court.

“We note with concern that there is a lot that is happening especially now that we are in the final run in to the elections and these include the semi-politically inclined pressures that we are facing, the concerns that are coming from the non-football family most of it aimed at destabilising the electoral process and cause chaos in the administration of football. “We are also quite sure that he has picked up some of the vibes that are related to the developments in our football and since he will be here to supervise those elections we ought to give him a full report on what has transpired, the challenges faced and the pressures that have been brought to bear on Zifa,’’ Gumede said.