The Sunday Mail
Petros Kausiyo
Sports Editor
A SIX-MEMBER FIFA delegation is expected to arrive in Zimbabwe tomorrow morning, as the world soccer governing body and the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) edge closer to bringing to an end the crisis that has crippled operations at troubled ZIFA.
The delegation, which includes officials from the Confederation of African Football (CAF), will spend three days in the country.
The visit puts paid to the narrative being peddled by ousted ZIFA president Felton Kamambo, Philemon Machana, Bryton Malandule and ex-chief executive officer Joseph Mamutse that FIFA were not prepared to engage with anyone other than the quartet.
They also tried to play down the importance of the series of meetings that have been taking place between the two bodies over the past year.
Although FIFA, SRC and CAF have kept a lid on details of the visit, The Sunday Mail Sport understands the delegation intends to resolve the crisis at ZIFA.
FIFA head of development programmes in Africa, Solomon Mudege; the senior member associations governance manager, Sarah Solemale and David Fani, who heads the world body’s regional office for Southern Africa, are among the officials expected tomorrow.
CAF director of member associations Sarah Mukuna and COSAFA president Artur de Almeida e Silva are part of the travelling party.
Sources close to the goings-on say there is a strong possibility of FIFA appointing a Normalisation Committee to oversee the reform process, which would then culminate in elections to choose a new leadership.
“As you know by now, FIFA and SRC have been discussing ZIFA matters continuously over the last year, with most of those meetings being virtual.
“Only two weeks ago, another virtual meeting between the parties was held and it seems that was the breakthrough indaba in that the idea of a Normalisation Committee seemed to have gained traction,’’ said the source.
It is believed that SRC will table to FIFA the roadmap that has been agreed to between the sport regulatory body and ZIFA.
“The FIFA delegation wants to take time to hear from the SRC board on the situation at ZIFA and get an on-the-ground appreciation of what is obtaining in Zimbabwe football.
“It appears that all the key parties to the discussions are all agreed that at this point the best solution for ZIFA is a Normalisation Committee that will oversee fresh elections within ZIFA, as well as ensure that the new executive implements the roadmap.”
Legitimacy
Another dimension to the ZIFA crisis is the legitimacy of the Congress, which has ceased to exist at law in terms of the association’s constitution.
The four-year term of Kamambo’s presidency and the ZIFA Congress, as well as the executive committee, commonly known as the board, expired on December 17, 2022.
“It was agreed that, for all intents and purposes, as it stands, there is no lawful ZIFA official in office because their mandate expired last year in terms of their constitution.”
Crucially for Zimbabwe, the visit by the FIFA delegation also paves the way for the lifting of the country’s suspension from international football.
It is believed that after its fact-finding mission, the delegation will make recommendations to the FIFA Council for lifting Zimbabwe’s suspension.
FIFA suspended Zimbabwe on February 25, 2022 ostensibly for third-party interference after the SRC had suspended the entire Kamambo executive on November 16, 2021.
Although they had mooted the idea of appointing an interim committee for ZIFA, the SRC later came up with a Restructuring Committee, which was a grouping of sport experts that laid the groundwork for the roadmap to the association’s reforms.
Apart from meeting with the SRC, the FIFA delegation will also engage the Premier Soccer League governors, women’s football leadership and the Footballers Union of Zimbabwe.
Some of the PSL governors, who spoke on condition of anonymity, expressed both enthusiasm and optimism at the prospects of meeting with FIFA.
“As PSL, we are happy to get a chance to highlight some key issues such as the governance problem in ZIFA, especially the micromanagement of the secretariat by the executive committee,” said one of the governors.
“Lack of development policies and programmes; the culture of not following up on FIFA projects – from the time of the Goal Project, which saw the ZIFA Village remain incomplete, and now FIFA Forward.
“This lethargy has seen Zimbabwe terribly lagging behind other African countries.”
Another governor was hopeful that the ZIFA roadmap would closely examine the structural deficiencies of the association.
“ZIFA has some dysfunctional members like futsal, beach soccer and area zones, which only seem to surface during election time. There is no youth development and there are no structures in women’s football.
“FIFA itself has undergone a lot of reforms under the leadership of Gianni Infantino, yet here in Zimbabwe we are now ages behind the levels where football is, and it good that FIFA will come on the ground and appreciate for themselves how much the ZIFA leadership has stalled progress through misgovernance,’’ the governor said.
Normalisation Committee
With indications suggesting that a Normalisation Committee will be appointed, the bulk of the work that such a team normally does appears to have been laid out by Blessing Rugara’s Restructuring Committee.
Appointment of a Normalisation Committee is also not peculiar to Zimbabwe, as FIFA has often exercised that option when they have declared a crisis in member associations across the world.
The same previously happened in countries such as Namibia, Ghana, Argentina, Venezuela, Thailand, Uruguay and Pakistan.
The committees are composed of members identified by FIFA and the relevant confederation and stakeholders.
And the number of members varies.
The committee ordinarily takes over the day-to-day running of the member association whilst drafting new statutes and policies for the association that adhere to the FIFA statutes and the relevant national law.
The new statutes must contain, at a minimum, provisions relating to neutrality in politics and religion, prohibition of discrimination, independence from any political interference, judicial independence and respect of the laws of the game.
Upon appointment, members of the committee are confirmed by FIFA’s Bureau of the Council, which deals with all matters requiring immediate attention between two meetings of the Council.
FIFA retain the right to add or remove any members as they see fit.
Notably, the committee also organises and conducts elections for a new executive committee. However, none of the members of the Normalisation Committee are able to run for any of the vacant positions in elections.
Members of the existing executive committee are required to vacate their posts whilst the committee undergoes its work.
If they wish to take up positions in the new executive committee, they are expected to contest for the positions in the elections.
@petrospablo1
