Inside sport: Kamambo living on borrowed time

By The Standard | Jan. 30, 2022

What is refreshing to some is that the Zifa Assembly which is being headed by Martin Kweza has agreed to wait for the 90 day period for the EGM to then pursue their agenda of cleaning the Zimbabwean game.

BY MICHAEL KARIATI

The Zifa Assembly’s wish to oust the association’s president Felton Kamambo and his board and bring in fresh inspiration at 53 Livingstone Avenue has been delayed after Fifa advised that the Assembly had no mandate to do so.

Kweza, who is the Northern Region chairman, contends that they will remain resolute in pursuing their agenda and no amount of waiting will shake their position as it is just Justice delayed but not justice denied.

On that premise, Kamambo is living on borrowed time as under whatever circumstances, the Zifa Assembly will one day still remove him from office in the same way they did to Cuthbert Dube.

What, however, we do not understand is how the Assembly could not in the first place correctly interpret its own statutes which are clear that at this moment only Kamambo and his leadership can call for this EGM.

What they should simply have done was to use diplomacy by asking Kamambo to bring them together at an EGM to resolve issues raised by the Sport and Recreation Commission against Zifa and then table their order on Any Other Business.

Now that their cat is out of the bag, there is no way that Kamambo will agree to this EGM as he has all the time to represent Zimbabwean football on the international front without worrying about none recognition back home.

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Fifa still recognizes his leadership and even if he is not directly running Zimbabwean football at the moment, he has nothing to lose as he can attend Caf and Fifa meetings and for that matter representing Zimbabwe.

In fact, the stoppage of the January 29 Zifa Assembly meeting by Fifa has made Kamambo even stronger knowing that he is still indirectly in charge of football in Zimbabwe until after April 3 when the Assembly will be able to convene the EGM.

That is what Zifa and Fifa rules say and as things stand right now Kamambo cannot be removed from office until after that Zifa Assembly meeting which will be held well after April 3.

What, however, the Zifa boss should be reminded of is the fact that there is no prestige or honour in being recognized outside the country when back at home, one is not wanted.

Kamambo’s position with Fifa has put Zimbabwean football at a standstill as no binding decision can be made by any other party as long as he is not reinstated from suspension by the Sport and Recreation Commission.

Zimbabwe needs to appoint a national team coach, there are also decisions to be made with regards to the Mighty Warriors, the Young Warriors, and overall sponsorship, but there is no-one to do that as Kamambo still remains FIFA’s man in charge.

The question that is being asked over and over again is : Why is Kamambo and Friends refusing to go with all the amount of pressure on them to vacate office ?

Some are suspicious that Kamambo is deliberately delaying his departure so that he fulfills the one thing he still wants in football — that is to attend the 2022 Fifa Congress and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and benefit from it.

Surely, the benefits of being there are enormous. Every football federation is allowed three delegates at the Fifa Congress with all expenses and allowances paid for by Fifa which puts Kamambo, Philemon Machana, and Joseph Mamutse in the picture.

These delegates are also allowed to watch some of the opening matches of the World Cup and it would be unwise to believe Kamambo would allow that once-in-lifetime opportunity to pass through his fingers.

Kamambo surely does not want to be the only one of the modern era Zifa bosses not to have made it to that important Fifa Congress which precedes the start of the World Cup.

Leo Mugabe was at the 1998 World Cup in France, Wellington Nyatanga at the 2006 finals in Germany, Cuthbert Dube at the 2010 tournament in South Africa and the 2014 finals in the USA while Phillip Chiyangwa was at the 2018 Congress in Russia.

This Fifa Congress itself is a gathering of who -is- who in world football leadership and with every past Zifa president having been at this grand stage, it would seem cruel to deny Kamambo this opportunity.

Sadly though, the voices calling for his departure are singing louder than before even louder than the ones that accompanied Cuthbert Dube’s exit to the extent that the Fifa Congress should not matter.

Now with no football power back at home, Kamambo should just do the right thing of pulling out of this football war — before he is pushed out in disgrace