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Zifa chairman Cuthbert Dube

Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
ZIMBABWE’S football family will now have to wait until this afternoon to know whether Zifa board elections will go ahead on Saturday after High Court judge Justice Francis Bere yesterday reserved his ruling on a bid by ZPC Kariba official Saidi Sangula to have the association interdicted from holding the polls.

Justice Bere, sitting in his chambers, spent just over two hours hearing preliminary objections raised by Zifa, who are the first respondent in the matter, as well as points raised by the applicant, including an answering affidavit tendered by Sangula.

The Sport and Recreation Commission, with whom Sangula first sought recourse in the case in which he is alleging serious flaws in the Zifa electoral process, are the second respondent.

At the end of the submissions, the judge told both parties that the court would reconvene this afternoon during which he will make a determination on the preliminary points raised.

It is during that determination that Justice Bere will also consider and rule on whether there is any merit in Zifa’s argument that the matter should not have been brought before the High Court in terms of the Electoral Code and that in terms of Article 60 of the association’s constitution football matters should not be taken to court.

Both parties emerged from Justice Bere’s chambers with some optimism as they faced the media.

Sangula’s lawyer Farai Mushoriwa of Mawere and Sibanda, who was instructing Advocate Eric Matinenga, said he could not discuss much on their application because the matter would be back in court today.

“It is an ongoing matter and we will be back in court tomorrow afternoon so I cannot say much for now,’’ Mushoriwa said.
Zifa’s lawyer Advocate Lewis Uriri said they were now looking forward to the ruling that would be made after the judge had gone through the objections they had raised.

Uriri did not discuss much either on the case except to confirm that the High Court was now expected to make a ruling today.

“The judge has heard arguments on the preliminary points and said he required time to consider those arguments. We are coming back tomorrow for a ruling on those preliminary points and the judge said one way or the other he will make a determination on this matter tomorrow,’’ Uriri said.

Sangula is praying that the High Court will grant him an interdict barring Zifa from continuing with the electoral process that started with polls for the affiliate bodies and will culminate in those for the association’s board and president on Saturday. The former Zifa Northern Region chairman contends that the Electoral Committee that has been mandated with conducting the elections was “flawed in its composition’’.

Sangula argues that the Electoral Code states that the Electoral Committee should be made up of eight members but he had been surprised to discover that the number had shot up to 11 when it was commissioned.

“As a candidate in the forthcoming polls, I am unnerved by the glaring illegality which I must first overcome before defeating my opponents in the poll.

“I must first defeat the illegally composed Electoral Committee which I have every reason to suspect is sitting as a hired gun in the interests of top-level people.

“I thus have a right to fairness. This right is being systematically interfered with by elements in the first respondent. It is only proper that pending the determination of this matter on the return date, first respondent be interdicted from proceeding with polls.

“It is imperative that the order that I seek herein be granted on the basis of urgency. I further aver that there is no adequate remedy that can protect my interests under the circumstances and I have been left with no option but to seek this relief on an urgent basis,’’ Sangula said.

Zifa, however, wants the court to withhold jurisdiction over the matter arguing that Sangula has not followed the terms laid out in the association’s constitution as well as the Electoral Code, which include the fact that all appeals should be lodged with an Appeals committee chaired by lawyer Tawanda Chitapi and which should hear the appeals within 96 hours of being lodged.

The soccer mother body also argues that Sangula has “locus standi to challenge the electoral process on the basis that he is not a candidate in the elections.”

This, Zifa, argue is premised on the fact that Sangula did not confirm his candidature by submitting his forms to the nominations court.
Zifa have also objected to allegations that Sangula had been suspended from the game and was thus not aware of the amendments that had been made to the constitution with the association insisting he was part of the board that set up a constitutional review committee by virtue of being the acting Zifa Northern Region chairman at the time.

Sangula first brought his case to the High Court last Wednesday and after the initial hearing, Justice Bere deferred the matter to last Friday when he had been expected to make a ruling.

However, Matinenga who was brought on board by the Sangula legal team, requested the court for more time to study the opposing points that Zifa had raised prompting Justice Bere to set yesterday as the new date for the hearing.

But with both parties have been closed their submission to the court, Justice Bere’s ruling will be eagerly awaited in an election that has created huge interest within and outside the domestic football circles.

Three candidates — Leslie Gwindi, Trevor Carelse-Juul and Nigel Munyati — have emerged to challenge incumbent Cuthbert Dube in the race to become the Zifa president on Saturday, should the High Court give the polls the green light.