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Eddie Chikamhi-Senior Sports Reporter

THE Sports and Recreation chairman Gerald Mlotshwa yesterday said they will seek to involve all football-loving Zimbabweans in the quest to find lasting solutions to issues affecting administration of the domestic game, before seeking readmission to FIFA. 

Mlotshwa appeared before the Portfolio Committee on Youth, Sports, Arts and Recreation yesterday to explain the state of the game following the suspension of ZIFA’s membership from the FIFA family last month. 

The parliamentarians had wanted to understand what led Zimbabwean football to descend to such depths as to attract the wrath of the international football mother body. 

And after taking the committee members through the time-lines and explaining in detail the events that led to the suspension, Mlotshwa said the restructuring committee set up by the Sports Commission, to look into the problems bedevilling the game, will go ahead with its task and make recommendations at the end.

The committee was given until the end of the year to finish its mandate. 

“There is a restructuring committee in place. That restructuring committee should not be confused with the interim committee, the way FIFA appears to have when they made the (suspension) announcement.

“The SRC appointed the restructuring committee not in terms of section 30 of the SRC Act.  

“That committee was never intended and is not intended to run the affairs of ZIFA. What the restructuring committee will do, in accordance with its terms of reference, is to look into the problems bedevilling the administration of football in this country, come up with recommendations as to how best these problems can be addressed. 

“The SRC will implement those recommendations either as SRC itself or through the restructuring committee and/or ZIFA Congress.

“That restructuring committee has been in the background, deliberately so but will come out as part of their remit in terms of their stakeholder engagement where they will be calling certain members of the public, certain interest bodies, like what is happening here, to make their submissions and recommendations. 

“We want to involve the whole country and get results that are well informed by Zimbabweans. In the end, we want a ZIFA that is well-run, well-administered, whose results will be seen through the performance of all teams at all age-groups,” said Mlotshwa. 

ZIFA were suspended from the global football family last month in response to the administrative challenges that have rocked the game in the past few years. 

FIFA descended on the nation with a heavy hand after ruling that the suspension of the Felton Kamambo-led board was akin to “third party interference”. The ZIFA board was suspended last November over a chain of allegations which included lack of accountability with public funds, corruption and sexual harassment of female referees by top football officials.

Some of the board members are also facing court cases on fraud charges. FIFA have set conditions for the reinstatement of ZIFA into the FIFA family and these include:

The repeal of the SRC decision of 26 November 2020 suspending the ZIFA General Secretary 

The repeal of the SRC decision of 16 November 2021 suspending the ZIFA Board 

The repeal of the SRC decision of 17 December 2021 setting up the restructuring committee

FIFA’s receipt of confirmation from ZIFA and its management, led by President Felton Kamambo and General Secretary Joseph Mamutse, that ZIFA and its premises are once more under their full and unconditional control 

The withdrawal of the SRC’s legal complaint against the ZIFA President, three other ZIFA Board members and the General Secretary regarding alleged misuse of the ZIFA letterheads.

However, the Sports Commission have no capacity to meet the FIFA demands since these matters are before the courts of law. 

Some of the suspended board members and the General Secretary Joseph Mamutse have since appealed to the Administrative Court and the case is yet to be determined. 

Mlotshwa said it was possible to withdraw from the Prosecutor General’s office the legal complaint made against some ZIFA board members over the fraudulent use of the organisation’s letterheads since the issue was beyond his powers. 

And, it looks like Zimbabwe will take the longer route before bouncing back to the greater football family. The Sports Commission boss however encouraged football stakeholders to trust the process.