IN exactly eleven days, the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) annual general meeting will take place in Harare to review progress in the development of the local game following years of turmoil that ultimately forced FIFA to appoint a normalisation committee two years ago.
The committee last week sent out a notice, spelling out the business of the day at the crucial AGM scheduled for October 18 in the capital.
On the agenda are a number of issues that the congress is set to tackle, including the association's financials as well as upcoming ZIFA elections to elect a new board that will take over from the normalisation committee when its extended term expires in January next year.
ZIFA attached a proposed draft constitution to allow members an opportunity to meticulously peruse clause by clause in preparation for the AGM.
The congress is expected to then either amend or just adopt the document as it is. NewsDay Sport is in possession of the proposed draft constitution and has picked a number of contentious clauses, not least article 38, which deals with the composition of the ZIFA board.
The section proposes, among other things, to bar individuals who have not continuously resided in the country in the past two years to contest for the presidency and vice-president’s position. The same section also seeks to block people without at least five Ordinary Level passes from contesting for the two top posts in the ZIFA board. Article 38.4 of the draft document reads, "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 2 (two) years preceding the date of election."
Article 38.7 says, "The President and the two Vice Presidents of the Executive Committee shall have passed a minimum of five O-Level subjects (Education level) or any equivalent educational level."
Critics have pinpointed these two clauses for criticism. They argue that the section is discriminatory and appears crafted to disenfranchise some aspiring candidates, particularly former footballers.
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“It's obvious that the clause on five O' Levels is targeted at former footballers so that they continue to be sidelined in the policymaking and the running of our football. It's so sad," said Ernest Mesa, a social commentator based in Botswana.
“It's astounding that we have people who want to discriminate against our football legends, the likes of Moses Chunga, Peter Ndlovu and a number of them who could not fully pursue their academics due to obvious reasons. Our constitution calls for non-discrimination of any person on any grounds, so my prayer is that the congress should do the right thing and remove this discriminatory clause. If we can have people without a Grade Seven qualification voted into Parliament, what is so special about the ZIFA post?"
Sources said former footballers are planning to picket at the venue of the AGM to force the congress to remove the clause on educational qualifications.
"Since time immemorial, we have had these technocrats and so called fundis running our football at ZIFA, but look where we are. They have failed to the point that FIFA had to put in a Normalisation Committee to run our affairs. It's so embarrassing on our part to have this NC and should be enough evidence that we don't necessarily need an educated leader.
What we need at the moment is a ZIFA president who can make things happen and has love for the development of football, whether the person is degreed or not," John Murondi, a critic said. Supporters of UK-based Marshall Gore and United States-based Richard Mazodze, who have both publicly stated their desire to contest for the ZIFA presidency, also feel that Article 38.4 is targeted at their candidates who have not lived in the country continuously for the past few years.
"Every Zimbabwean should just be allowed to contest for ZIFA whether they live in or outside the country," said Lawrence Chitiyo from Harare. Mazodze's chances of winning the presidency even if he is allowed to contest have drastically diminished, though, after he was last week sucked in a match -fixing scandal involving players and match officials in the Eastern Region Soccer League where his club FC Wangu Mazodze competes.
Besides Gore and Mazodze, the only other people to have publicly declared their interest in the election are businessman Brighton "Panjap" Ushendibaba and former ZIFA vice- president Philemon Machana.
Other people who are also said to be interested in the ZIFA top post are former PSL chairman Twine Phiri, current PSL chairman Farai Jere, Caps United legend Alois Bunjira, journalist Charles Mabika, ZIFA Northern Region chairman Martin Kweza and Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries founder Walter Magaya who last week published a document, the "101 things that I have done for football in the country and the region."
More aspiring candidates are expected to come out in the open soon after the AGM, although the process of canvassing for support and campaigning behind the scenes is in full swing. Unlike in the past when a president had running mates, the draft constitution is proposing for the election to be done by position.
The board is set to expand to eleven members, of which three, including one of the two deputies, must be a woman while the congress membership will be increased to 78 with the proposed addition of more representatives from the women’s league.
