Sibanda court case puts Zifa in dilemma

Sport
Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) finds itself in a quandary over the matter of the association’s vice-president Omega Sibanda, who has allegedly taken football matters to court.

Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) finds itself in a quandary over the matter of the association’s vice-president Omega Sibanda, who has allegedly taken football matters to court.

By our staff

Zifa has been ruthless with similar offenders such as Masvingo United FC and its secretary-general Collin Maboke who has since been suspended from football for two years.

Most recently, Zifa board member Edzai Kasinauyo, who was implicated in a new wave of match-fixing, was expelled from the board and barred from having anything to do with football for the same reason.

Football stakeholders have questioned the continued participation of Sibanda in the Zifa board, which has been suspending other office bearers for taking football matters to court when he has an outstanding case at the Bulawayo High Court against FC Platinum.

On March 11, Zifa chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze wrote to Masvingo United Football Club and their secretary general Maboke notifying them of their suspension for taking football matters to court.

Mashingaidze wrote another letter which suspended Maboke as an individual from all football activities for the same reason.

People then started querying the continued participation of Sibanda in the board and why the Phillip Chiyangwa-led executive gave the matter a blind eye.

Court papers which Standardsport has in its possession indicate that in 2010 FC Platinum engaged Sibanda for consultancy services before the two parties took each other to court for an outstanding payment of $53 000. The matter was reported in 2011 — case number 3212/2011.

Sibanda reported the matter under his company trade name, Links International, citing FC Platinum as the first respondent while Worthwhile Mugabe is the second respondent.

The matter was heard on June 22, 2015 for two days at the Bulawayo High Court before Justice Kamocha and was postponed to the second quarter of 2016.

Legal experts expressed mixed feelings over the matter, with some arguing that the matter was not a football issue while others were of the view that due to the fact that it involved a football cub, FC Platinum, it was a football matter.

Others urged that Sibanda should have declared his interest before he was elected into the new Zifa board.

Legal expert, Itai Ndudzo stood by Sibanda and said this was more like an employment issue and there was no other way that Sibanda could have handled the matter.

“People need to understand what we call football issues. If you are summoned by Zifa and then you decide to take the matter to court, like what Kasinauyo did, then you have taken football matters to court. We have three aspects of Zifa rules and regulations in the Zifa constitution which deal with football matters — disciplinary, appeals and the ethics committees. But with this case, there is no way they could have dealt with such an issue without going to court. If you read Articles 34 (n), 54 (2), 56, 57 and 58, you will see that this is a commercial issue which cannot be called a football matter.”

He added, “It is clear that the guy was employed by FC Platinum, so after failing to get his salary, he decided to take them to court as employer and employee.” Asked why the likes of Tom Sainfiet and Valinhos got their money from Zifa through “proper” channels, Ndudzo said the reason was those coaches belonged to other associations and that is why they had to take that Fifa channel.

A Fifa legal expert, however, said as long as the case involved a football club, FC Platinum, with Sibanda registered with both Fifa and Zifa as a football agent, it was a football matter. He said he wondered why the board was giving the matter a blind eye.

“It’s clear, he is a registered player agent, dealing with a football club, so why would one say it’s not a football issue?” questioned the legal expert.

Others felt that Sibanda should have made it known to the board before he was voted into office on December 5 that he had a pending court case.

“He should have declared his interest. This could have saved the day for him.”

Contacted for comment, Sibanda said the case was not reported in his name despite the fact that Standardsport got it from the lawyers handling the matter that the case was reported by him through his company. Sibanda said he just demanded his money after he had offered services.

“Demanding my money after doing a good job is what you call taking football matters to court, no. There is nothing like that. All I wanted is my money and the matter was not even reported in my name,” Sibanda said.

Contacted for comment, Chiyangwa said he was away on a business trip and that he needed to get the facts correctly for him to comment.