Where to Zim football? | The Chronicle

Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
Football’s world governing body, Fifa’s response to the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC)’s decision to suspend the Zifa board yesterday will determine the future of Zimbabwean football.

Uncertainty hovers over local football amid fears that Fifa could suspend Zimbabwe from all international football activities.

Fifa is known to be against removal of elected office bearers and government interference.

The SRC said the decision to suspend the Zifa board was made after extensive consultations and deliberations on matters relating to the governance and management of football in Zimbabwe.

Mismanagement and lack of accountability on use of public funds, failing to deal with sexual harassment of female referees and gross incompetence were listed as reasons for evoking Section 30 (i) (c) of the SRC Act.

The Act reads: “(1) Where the Board considers that any registered national association: conducted itself in a manner which is contrary to national interest; the Board may, after affording the association concerned an opportunity of making representations in the matter, do either or both of the following; I. Suspend all or II. Any of its officers.”

This is not the first time that SRC has cracked the whip on Zifa, as it suspended the association’s chief executive officer Joseph Mamutse from all football activities in November 2020.

This was after the national Under-17 team was expelled from the Cosafa Under-17 championships, which also act as a qualifier for the African Junior tournament, after being sucked in an age-cheating saga.

The SRC said the Under-17 squad had travelled to the Cosafa tournament without being cleared as was required by law during the Level 4 Covid-19 lockdown.

Yesterday, the SRC listed seven reasons for suspending the Zifa board:

“1. Mismanagement and lack of accountability in the use of public funds with specific reference to the letter issued to Zifa on the 3rd of July 2019, where Zifa was asked to account fully for the use of public funds in the aftermath of the 2019 Afcon campaign. This letter has not been responded to at all.

2. The sending of national teams outside of Zimbabwe without Covid-19 clearances from the SRC.

3. The SRC is also in receipt of a report of alleged sexual harassment of female referees by key technical staff within Zifa.

Despite several requests for the matter to be decisively dealt with, Zifa did not give the matter adequate attention in view of its gravity. Whereas the nation has made significant strides in empowering the girl child to be an active participant in sports, incidences of sexual harassment should be conclusively dealt with to enable a conducive environment for participation by all.

4. Failure to address gender imbalances relating to the treatment of female national teams compared to their male counterparts in terms of allowances, up-keep and unfavourable operating conditions.

5. Failure to address and make appropriate investment of the development fund as provided by Fifa for grassroot and junior football development.

6. No evidence of any meaningful development at grassroot level.

7. A looming constitutional crisis within Zifa viz pending elections.

Last year, Chronicle Sport reported that some female referees had accused a board member of sexual harassment and Zifa responded by saying a probe would be conducted.

Suspension of the Zifa board comes hot on the heels of the disbandment of the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) executive board by the Kenyan government and a caretaker committee being put in charge.

FKF president Nick Mwendwa appeared in court on Monday over allegations of corruption stemming from an audit report and was remanded in custody after the judge denied him bail.

Mwendwa is being investigated for allegedly transferring Sh8,5 million, (about US$75 862) from the FKF account into his personal accounts and authorising the fictitious withdrawal of Sh29.5 million (about US$263 287) from the federation’s account.

Fifa secretary-general Fatma Samoura wrote to Kenya’s Sports, Culture and Heritage Ministry on Sunday, warning that the East African nation risks being suspended.

However, Fifa extended an invitation for dialogue with Kenya’s Sports Ministry, saying together with Caf they are ready to work with FKF and Ministry’s representatives to normalise the situation.

That Fifa hinted on “normalising” issues in Kenya can be interrupted to mean setting up a Normalisation Committee that the world body and Caf will guide until elections for a new board are held.

Fifa has established Normalisation Committees in Cameroon, Egypt and Ghana in recent years.

However, Fifa suspended Chad earlier this year citing government interference after authorities opted to establish their own National Committee to manage the federation’s affairs.

The SRC has not imposed a committee to run Zifa affairs.

In 2015, Fifa warned that Zimbabwe could face severe sanctions and be frozen out of the global football family should the Government press ahead with threats to dissolve the Zifa board.

This was after the then Sport, Arts and Culture Deputy Minister Tabetha Kanengoni-Malinga told Parliament that the ministry was considering disbanding the association’s leadership regardless of the consequences of a Fifa ban.

Malinga then repeated her call at a press conference a day later, insisting that the then Zifa president Cuthbert Dube needed to resign or risk Government invoking the “necessary measures, including the dissolution of his board as part of measures to clean up the domestic game”.

Dube quit his post as Zifa president on the night of October 3, 2015, just a few hours before councillors were due to revoke his mandate as their leader at an extraordinary general meeting after falling out of favour.

Fifa does not support “undue interference”, preferring football bodies to map their way forward. But in Zimbabwe’s case, councillors have proved dysfunctional and complicit to problems bedevilling local football.

Bribery allegations have been thrown at Zifa councillors, casting doubts on their ingenuity in serving football.

Suspension of the Zifa board comes days after the association cancelled an overdue annual general meeting.

The Zifa councillors have said nothing about the AGM despite allegations of abuse of Fifa/Caf Covid-19 funds.

And now that the Zifa board has been suspended; the question is what is likely to happen?

Fifa could either call for dialogue with the SRC just like what it has done with Kenya or send a delegation on a fact-finding mission and if need be, set up guidelines for a Normalisation Committee.

The world football governing body might also ban Zimbabwe from participation in regional and international matches.

This means all the teams, including clubs will not compete in any tournament under the auspices of Fifa or its affiliates. It also means the Warriors will be booted out of the Africa Cup of Nations scheduled for Cameroon in January and February next year, while top Zimbabwean referees will be robbed of a chance to officiate in the Afcon, Caf Champions League and Cosafa tournaments.

Women’s football heavily relied on Cosafa tournaments since there has not been a functional domestic league since the premature end of the 2019 season. – @ZililoR.