SRC call for integrity in ZIFA elections

Petros Kausiyo

THE Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) have expressed satisfaction with the amended ZIFA constitution and called on the football association’s stakeholders to uphold integrity ahead of the elective congress early next year.

ZIFA’s top policy-making body, the Congress, met at a FIFA-supervised annual meeting on October 18, during which they voted 48-8 to adopt the amendments to their constitution. The manner in which the councillors and Lincoln Mutasa’s ZIFA Normalisation Committee went about their business won the praise of the FIFA/CAF delegates who attended the indaba.

FIFA were particularly impressed with the Congress for displaying renewed commitment to redressing some of the key problems afflicting the country’s game, which were largely centred on a constitution that was last amended 11 years ago.

Although there were a number of items on the agenda, the spotlight naturally fell on the draft of the amended constitution, which the assembly needed to ratify or reject. And the 58 bona fide delegates of the ZIFA Congress overwhelmingly voted to adopt the amendments to the constitution, with 48 of them ticking the “Yes” box, while eight objected and two ballots were spoilt.

A copy of that amended constitution was then sent to the SRC for their approval and registration. In line with Section 29 of the Sport and Recreation Act (Chapter 25:15), all national sporting associations’ constitutions are registered with and approved by the SRC.

This enables the SRC to exercise their oversight role on associations.

On Thursday last week, the SRC’s legal team completed their review of the statutes, registered the constitution and gave ZIFA the greenlight to now proceed and lodge the document with FIFA.

The approval by the SRC paves the way for the Normalisation Committee to upscale preparations to stage the much-awaited ZIFA board elections tentatively set for January. SRC board chairperson Gerald Mlotshwa said the regulatory body would not be involved in deciding who the next ZIFA president would be.

Mlotshwa applauded the move by Mutasa’s leadership to set up an ethics and integrity committee that will assess the eligibility of candidates.

“The new ZIFA Constitution has been registered by the SRC, in terms of its governing Act. New ZIFA elections will be conducted under its auspices and the watchful eyes of FIFA and CAF,’’ he said.

“I am aware that ZIFA is in the process of putting together an ethics and integrity committee to vet prospective candidates. The SRC does not vet candidates nor will it endorse any candidate. That is a matter for the football community within ZIFA to decide without third party interference or influence.

“It is our fervent hope, as the SRC, that the composition of the ethics and integrity committee will encourage those very able former footballers, administrators and corporate leaders in our country to step up for what will, given the importance of football in Zimbabwe, be a national duty.”

Although they will not be involved with the vetting, the SRC have maintained that ZIFA’s electoral college would need to choose leaders who are honest, respectable and can ensure credibility and accountability for the association and the country’s biggest sports code.

“We want to see selfless, hardworking and honest people at the helm of our sport,” he said.

“Not shameless, self-centred, incompetent and divisive egotists, as has been the unfortunate case in the recent past.”

Two clauses that drew huge interest during discussions to amend the constitution were the requirement that candidates for the ZIFA president and the two deputies must be holders of five Ordinary Level passes, as a basic educational entry point and that candidates ought to have been ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe in the last two years.

That the SRC ratified the clauses underscores the significance of the requirement that those in the leadership of any sporting association should have some basic education, especially in an era when football has become a multi-billion-dollar industry.

Mutasa, in defending the clause last month, indicated that a ZIFA president needed to have basic education to effectively represent Zimbabwe at fora such as the FIFA, CAF or COSAFA Congress and to interact with the Government and fellow football associations.

Interestingly, the ZIFA Congress are not the first to demand that those entrusted with leading football in the country must have five O-Level passes.

It is also not the first time that the clause has caused some consternation among some of the game’s stakeholders.

In 1998, Justice Paddington Garwe led a commission of inquiry into the management of football in Zimbabwe. The inquiry, while exposing the problems that were bleeding the national game, including glaring incompetence and graft, recommended those in football administration should at least have five O-Level passes.

Twenty-six years later, the matter has resurfaced and will be among a number of entry points for one to stand for office in the top ZIFA leadership echelons.

Under the amended constitution, the ZIFA executive, commonly known as the board, will now have 11 members, with one of the two vice presidents having to be a woman.

“The Executive Committee shall consist of 11 members, at least three (3) of whom shall be women, as follows: a) one President. b) two vice presidents (1st vice president and 2nd vice president), at least one of whom shall be a woman. c) six ordinary members. d) one ex officio member representing the Premier Soccer League elected by the Premier Soccer League and ratified by the ZIFA Congress. e) one ex officio female member representing the Zimbabwe Women Premier Soccer League elected by the Zimbabwe Women Premier Soccer League and ratified by the ZIFA Congress,’’ reads Article 38.1 of the new constitution.

Articles 38.4 to 38-8 also set further parameters for those aspiring to be board members.

All members of the Executive Committee shall be citizens and residents of Zimbabwe and shall have been continuously resident in Zimbabwe for a period of two years preceding the date of election;

All members of the Executive Committee shall have already been active in football for at least five years within the last 10 years and shall fulfil the prerequisites stipulated in article 24 paragraph 8 of these Statutes;

All members of the Executive Committee shall not have been previously convicted and sentenced for any offence;

The president and the two vice presidents of the Executive Committee shall have passed a minimum of five O-Level subjects or any equivalent educational level;

For one to be eligible to be voted as the president of the Executive Committee, one must be of the age of 40 years and above.