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Robson Sharuko

Senior Sports Editor

STUNNING revelations that the ousted ZIFA board had planned to smuggle suspended chief executive, Joseph Mamutse, to the 13th CAF extraordinary general assembly, have painted a picture of an association, which had gone rogue.

The indaba, which brings together all the continent’s football associations, is set to be held in Cairo, Egypt, on Friday.

‘‘The Confederation of African Football will hold an Extraordinary General Assembly (EGA) on Friday 26 November 2021 in Cairo, Egypt,’’ the continent’s football controlling body, said in a notice.

‘‘The 13th extraordinary general assembly will discuss various topics on the agenda of Africa’s football governing bodies.’’

ZIFA were set to be represented by their ousted president, Felton Kamambo, board member finance, Philemon Machana with Mamutse, completing the three-man team.

Kamambo and Machana were part of the ZIFA board which was dissolved by the Sports and Recreation Commission last week.

This means they are unlikely to travel to Cairo, for the indaba, as the SRC continue to dig in, insisting their decision to dissolve the ZIFA board, is irreversible.

Sources told The Herald yesterday the trio were set to leave for Egypt this week.

However, it’s the presence of Mamutse, among the group of the ZIFA officials, who were set to travel to Cairo, which has triggered intense interest.

Given the ZIFA chief executive’s suspension had not been lifted by the SRC, this is likely to be viewed as another example of how the ousted football leaders, had turned rogue.

It’s likely to be viewed by the SRC board as another brazen act of insubordination, by the ousted ZIFA leaders, who were no longer answerable to any authority, including the sports regulators, in this country.

Mamutse was suspended by the SRC last year, on the very day the sports regulator also suspended their chief executive, Prince Mupazviriho, in the wake of the chaos, which followed the Young Warriors expulsion from the COSAFA Cup, for fielding an over-aged player.

Both Mamutse and Mupazviriho faced accusations of allegedly failing to ensure that the country’s national teams satisfied all the requirements, related to taking part in foreign tournaments, during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The SRC board claimed there were irregularities in the way national football teams were being cleared for tournaments, especially those which were being held in South Africa.

Mupazviriho has since been replaced by SRC acting director, Sebastian Garikai.

Xolisani Gwesela, the ZIFA spokesperson, has been the acting chief executive of the national football governing body.

However, sources have said Mamutse occasionally reports for duty, clandestinely, in defiance of the SRC suspension.

Ironically, the issue of the irregular clearance of national football teams, for foreign tournaments, was part of the charge sheet, which the SRC unveiled, when they suspended the ZIFA board.

In December, last year, ZIFA said they felt Mamutse should be allowed to resume work, by operation of law, after he filed a notice of appeal, against his suspension.

He filed a notice of appeal and it was ZIFA’s contention that, by operation of law, he was supposed to be back at work.

ZIFA wrote to the SRC, to confirm the position, and get Mamutse cleared to return to work.

However, according to the association’s lawyer, Chenaimoyo Gumiro, they didn’t receive any feedback, from the sports regulator.

“He filed a notice of appeal to the SRC and, by operation of law, that sets aside his suspension,’’ Gumiro said.

‘‘We have, therefore, written to SRC to confirm this position so that he can be allowed to resume duties, but we have not received response.

‘‘So, we will have to follow it up again.’’

Gumiro said they also approached the Administrative Court, for the resolution of the case.

Mamutse ended up taking his case with FIFA and, in January this year, the world football governing body demanded his reinstatement.

“As a preliminary remark, we note that the decision in question does not seem to have followed the correct procedure as provided for in section 30 (1) of the Act, as ZIFA was not even afforded an opportunity to be heard,’’ wrote Veron Mosengo-Omba, who was the FIFA chief, in charge of national associations.

‘‘More precisely, we would like to express our concern that let. c) of Section 30 (1) of the Act grants the SRC an extremely wide margin of interpretation in that it may decide, among other things, to suspend any officer of a registered national association in case it considers that the entity in question ‘conducted itself in a manner which is contrary to the national interest.’

“We take the view that such wording may very well lead to decisions taken arbitrarily as the Act does not seem to define which particular actions might be deemed to go against ‘the national interest’.

‘‘In view of this, we take the view that the decision of the SRC to suspend you as general-secretary of ZIFA should be either invalidated or overturned.”

However, the SRC didn’t reinstate Mamutse and Mosengo-Omba has since moved on, from FIFA, and is now the CAF secretary-general.

In his update, after the PSL programme was initially paralysed last week, when referees withdrew their services, said there was no reason why domestic football should be affected since there was a ZIFA ‘‘acting secretary-general,’’ the co-ordinate activities.