Battle for Zifa intensifies

Sport
FORMER Premier Soccer League CEO Chris Sambo says they will continue to push for control of the local football governing body, Zifa as the Philip Chiyangwa-led executive had abdicated its responsibilities when they dissolved the body and replaced it with the National Football Association of Zimbabwe (Nafaz).

FORMER Premier Soccer League CEO Chris Sambo says they will continue to push for control of the local football governing body, Zifa as the Philip Chiyangwa-led executive had abdicated its responsibilities when they dissolved the body and replaced it with the National Football Association of Zimbabwe (Nafaz).

BY DANIEL NHAKANISO

Sambo’s comments came after the fight for control of Zifa took a new twist on Friday evening as the Chiyangwa-led executive pushed for the arrest of former Zifa Northern Region chairman Francis Zimunya.

Zimunya and his backers, who include former Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze and ex-Premier Soccer League chief executive officer Sambo, were accused of unlawful entry at Zifa House.

The trio, who are spearheading the formation of a “working committee for the re-establishment of Zifa”, had seized control of the soccer mother body by occupying the association’s headquarters at 53 Livingstone Avenue in the capital last week.

Zifa, through their vice-president Omega Sibanda, made a report at Harare Central Police Station, accusing Zimunya — who leads the Lifelong Footballers Trust of Zimbabwe — and his alleged accomplices of unlawful entry at the Zifa House.

But Sambo, who is the Lifelong Footballers Trust, of Zimbabwe secretary-general remained defiant, accusing the Chiyangwa-led executive of abandoning the premises and the workers after its dissolution on June 4.

“There is no truth that we have been arrested at the directive of Philip Chiyangwa. We will not be intimidated into allowing Chiyangwa and his cabal to destroy what the late John Madzima and Nelson Chirwa started. Our fight is to save football for the benefit of future generations. They have no basis for coming back to Zifa. They unilaterally dissolved the association, locked out employees from Zifa House in violation of the country’s labour laws and lowered the flags of CAF and Fifa.

They left the premises unsecured and that is when the working committee, representing the interests of Zifa workers and creditors, came up with a resolution to hire a security company to secure that place, but on Friday evening we were informed that Chiyangwa’s handlers and members of the police manhandled the security guard,” he said.

Sambo said Chiyangwa and his executive had no say over Zifa House and its properties, which they had already indicated belonged to Zifa (Pvt) Ltd.

“We were surprised by their action because this is the same Zifa that they dumped. In what capacity are they coming back, as Zifa or Nafaz? And furthermore, those premises are owned by Zifa (Pvt) Ltd, as they highlighted in their financial statements,” he said.

Sambo said Chiyangwa’s decision to dissolve Zifa had virtually paralysed local football and the country faced an uncertain future as the sport was grappling with a crippling crisis triggered by the attempted dissolution of Zifa on June 4.

Sports and Recreation minister Makhosini Hlongwane last week also declared Zifa’s dissolution null and void, arguing that proper procedures had not been followed. Sambo said the effects of the dissolution — which has been sharply criticised as a deliberate attempt by the Chiyangwa-led executive to avoid paying their debts to the prejudice of their creditors and employees — were still being felt.

Last week, Zimbabwe withdrew the national Under-17 team from the 2017 Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers which started yesterday and the Cosafa Under-17 Championships to be held in Mauritius from July 23-31.

Fifa has also indicated that they would not release development funds worth $250 000 which were due to be released to Zifa on June 6 until the local football governing body resolved issues related to the dissolution of the association.

Furthermore, Sambo said the sacking of Zifa employees had also affected the mid-season transfer window which opened on Friday, which meant local clubs have not been able to register their new acquisitions.

Timothy Muzhandu, who was Zifa’s Transfer Matching System manager, was among the beleaguered association’s members of the secretariat that lost their jobs after Zifa declared itself insolvent.

“The secretariat is utterly dysfunctional, nothing is happening. The second window for player registration opened on Friday, but clubs have not been able to register their players because the employee, who is supposed to do the licensing, is one of those employees who was thrown out and we don’t have anyone at Zifa doing player licensing,” Sambo said.

Efforts to get a comment from Chiyangwa were fruitless as he is currently in France for the ongoing 2016 Uefa European Championship.

He, however, released a statement on Friday evening assuring local football stakeholders that other national teams would be able to honour their respective competitions.

“Our senior men’s national team, the Warriors, will participate in the momentous Gabon 2017 Orange Africa Cup of Nations finals while the senior women’s national team, the Mighty Warriors will participate in the historic Rio 2016 Olympics and the 2016 Africa Women Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon,” Chiyangwa said in a Press statement on Friday.