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Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter

DYNAMOS board chairman Bernard Marriot has dismissed as a legal nullity the meeting held by former players and club legends which elected a new board of trustees meant to assume control of the club.

Harare lawyer Fungai Nyamayaro, who serves as secretary in the DeMbare board under Marriot’s administration, yesterday said the resolutions made at the weekend have no effect in the running of the club.

“Whatever resolutions were made and committees formed have no bearing on Dynamos Football Club,” said Nyamayaro.

On Saturday, former Dynamos players convened a meeting where they reconstituted the electoral college and also elected club legend Ernest Kamba as chairman of the new board of trustees.

Sunday Chidzambwa was also roped in as the vice-chairman of the board of trustees, which also has Cremio Mapfumo as treasurer and Eric Aisam as secretary.

The 10-member board of trustees also includes David George, Moses Chunga, Clayton Munemo, Labani Kandi, Makwinji Soma-Phiri and Ignatius Kapfunde.

The former players insisted the meeting was legally binding as it was held under the club’s founding constitution of 1963.

However, a standoff is looming in the coming days after Nyamayaro yesterday insisted the meeting was a non-event since the 1963 constitution and the electoral college were no longer in existence.

“The 1963 constitution is no longer in existence. It was repealed when Dynamos Football Club was registered as a company. The team is now being regulated by the provisions of the Companies Act and the memos and articles of association.

“Proper procedures were followed when Dynamos was registered as a company.

“Dynamos was registered as a company in January 1999 by its founding members Josiah Akende, Richard Chiminya, Alois Mesikano, and Bernard Marriot-Lusengo.

“Ever since 1999, there hasn’t been any electoral college meeting as the electoral college no longer exists. There is now a board of directors. It has been 23 years now and the Saturday meeting was a non-event,” said Nyamayaro.

The ownership structures at Dynamos have always been a bone of contention between the former players. Dynamos was formed in 1963 as a community football club. Over the years, the club has based most of its functions on the constitution drawn up by the founding fathers in 1963.

However, Nyamayaro said things changed in 1999 when they registered the club as a private company. Marriot has been chairman of the board for the past few years.

“In 2017, the same guys made attempts to stop the 8th AGM of Dynamos but their application was dismissed by the court. The Dynamos board is not fazed by what happened on Saturday as that has nothing to do with Dynamos Football Club (Pvt) (Ltd),” said Nyamayaro.

He added that a board of trustees that was appointed on Saturday is not eligible to run the club’s operations since Dynamos is now a company.

“The meeting that was held on Saturday appointed a committee of trustees purportedly to run the affairs of Dynamos.

“Dynamos is a company, and trustees cannot run the affairs of a company but a Trust. None of the people who attended the Saturday meeting is a director of Dynamos Football Club and no one can purport to form a committee to run the affairs of an organisation that he is not a part of.

“If there is another Dynamos in the form of a trust, then the committee formed is free to administer the affairs of that trust, and Dynamos Pvt Ltd or its directors cannot interfere as they have no business therein,” said Nyamayaro.

The Glamour Boys are enjoying the peace and tranquillity that has been brought in through the sponsorship of Sakunda Holdings.

Although squabbles are known to bruise a brand and affect sponsors, the club believes they have fully appraised their partners before their marriage and were satisfied before getting into bed with the Harare giants.

“The current sponsors of Dynamos are genuine corporate organisations who know who they are dealing with. The stability and good governance at Dynamos invited the sponsors and they cannot be swayed by non-events such as the Saturday meeting.

“Documents pertaining to the team were submitted to the sponsors before the sponsors made a decision to associate themselves with the club. Being big corporates, they are legally informed and they made informed decisions in deciding to sponsor the club.

“We will always keep our sponsors informed of the goings-on at Dynamos and we have no reason whatsoever to conclude that the Saturday meeting will affect our sponsorship,” said Nyamayaro.