Fifa rescues Dube again

Sport
The plot by a group of councillors to oust Zifa president Cuthbert Dube appears to be going up in smoke with Fifa again coming to the rescue of the incumbent by insisting on a joint extraordinary congress and annual general meeting (AGM) next month.

The plot by a group of councillors to oust Zifa president Cuthbert Dube appears to be going up in smoke with Fifa again coming to the rescue of the incumbent by insisting on a joint extraordinary congress and annual general meeting (AGM) next month.

BY MICHAEL MADYIRA

The Zifa board meets tomorrow where vice-president Omega Sibanda and board member finance Bernard Gwarada are expected to be booted out before the remaining members set the date for next month’s congress in which Fifa will send officials to attend.

After initially advising that an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) would be held on June 16, Fifa have shifted goal posts and pushed the gathering to next month when it would be held together with the annual general meeting that had been initially set for June 27.

A section of councillors had planned to show Dube the exit door next Saturday at the now nullified EGM.

Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke wrote to Zifa last Thursday agreeing to chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze’s request that a joint congress be held next month.

“As you will notice that we advise Zifa to hold a congress in a bit more than a month and ensure that Zifa members, including yourselves, would raise any of their concerns which should be part of the agenda. We are aware of the correspondence and we are confident you agree on this strategy, which ensures that you will be able to table your topic during the AGM. Fifa will attend the AGM as an observer,” wrote Valcke.

Dube seems to be living the proverbial nine lives of a cat after Fifa overturned a unanimous decision by the 30 councillors to relieve him of his duties back in May.

The ageing football administrator must have played his cards right when he publicly declared his allegiance to Sepp Blatter, the under fire Fifa boss who was retained at the elections in Zurich a fortnight ago.

“We understand that our recommendation to hold both an extraordinary congress and an ordinary congress on 16 June 2015 could not be implemented and that there had been some confusion with regard to the content of the agenda. We also take note that the Zifa Board decided to hold both ordinary and extraordinary congresses in July or August 2015, including items raised by Zifa members,” wrote Valcke.

“We agree with your proposal which should accommodate the Zifa stakeholders who will have thus the possibility to discuss any of their concerns. Knowing that the first request by the Zifa Councilors was made in March 2015 and in order to shorten the 60 days’ notice deadline of an ordinary congress as stipulated in the Zifa Constitution, we suggest that you organise one extraordinary congress whose agenda would consist of topics drawn by Zifa board and topics sent by Zifa members.

“Should you consider our recommendation, you could therefore announce the date of the extraordinary congress one month in advance and provide 10 days to the members to send their proposals for the agenda. Zifa would then have few days to compile the topics and send the formal convocation with the agenda two weeks before the congress in compliance with Zifa Constitution.”

The developments come in the wake of a failed demonstration by the Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters Association (ZNSSA) yesterday. The supporters had intended to march from Zifa headquarters to Dube’s residence in Groombridge, but police could not clear the demonstration.