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Eddie Chikamhi-Senior Sports Reporter

ZIFA councillors are set to hold their first consultative meeting to discuss the impending Extraordinary General Meeting and the way forward for local football following the recent suspension imposed on the national association by FIFA.

The first consultative meeting, to be attended by the councillors that signed the petition calling for the special EGM, was set to take place in Bulawayo tomorrow but has been moved to next Saturday.

The consultative meetings will lead up to the association’s special EGM next month and are being spearheaded by ZIFA Northern Region Division One chairman, Martin Kweza, who has been designated by the petitioners to lead their quest to restore sanity at 53 Livingstone Avenue.

Kweza yesterday told The Herald that the councillors are concerned with the state of the nation’s football which eventually led to the tough decision by FIFA last week. FIFA announced they had suspended Zimbabwe and Kenya indefinitely over “third party interference”.

A series of meetings are set to take place among the football leadership to ensure that the lights do not entirely go out for Zimbabwean football.

“We were supposed to hold our first consultative meeting in Bulawayo this Saturday (tomorrow) but this has since been moved to next week because of some logistical challenges.

“These consultative meetings are important for us as football leadership. Look, we have just received a suspension from FIFA and we cannot just ignore it as if nothing has happened.

“We have to discuss what’s next for our football. Of course, the suspension will have a much more defined impact on our international engagements but in the meantime our domestic league is continuing.

“The lower leagues and women’s football also have to go ahead with their activities. So we would need to see how best we can support them so that our football doesn’t die. We also need to consult on how best we can help fast-forward our reintegration to the FIFA family,” said Kweza.

ZIFA were suspended by FIFA in accordance with Article 13 of the FIFA Statutes, after the global football mother body had ruled that the continued suspension of the Felton Kamambo-led board constituted “undue interference by a third party”.

The ZIFA board was suspended by the Sports and Recreation Commission last November over a chain of allegations that included lack of transparency with public funds, sexual harassment of female referees and gross mismanagement.

The same football leadership have pending cases at the courts where they are battling to clear their names over bribery and vote buying allegations, as well as charges of fraud.

The Sports Commission refused to budge to the instructions from FIFA to reinstate them until the root cause of the problems at ZIFA was addressed.

But then FIFA went on and announced last week that ZIFA were to be stripped of all its membership rights as of February 24, 2022, until further notice.

The suspension meant that ZIFA representatives and club teams are no longer entitled to take part in international competitions until the suspension is lifted.

Furthermore, neither the ZIFA nor any of its members or officials may benefit from any development programmes, courses or training from FIFA and/or CAF.

Kweza said the congress, which represents the supreme and legislative authority of ZIFA, needed to brainstorm and work a possible way out of this quagmire. He said the proposed EGM was key in the way forward for Zimbabwean football.

“We are still within the 90-day provision set out by FIFA for the meeting to be held. A notice will be sent out to the delegates on April 4 and then the congress will take place on April 23. The agenda remains the same.

“For the avoidance of doubt, this congress, just like all the internal processes at ZIFA, is not affected by the FIFA suspension.

“It’s the ZIFA’s membership at FIFA that has been suspended, not the ZIFA constitution. We can still hold our meetings and come up with resolutions that help our football’s recovery, as long as they are held within the confines of the ZIFA statutes,” said Kweza.