The Sunday News
Allan Foti and Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondents
NO COUNCIL=NO QUORUM=NO CONGRESS=NO AGM=NO ELECTIONS!
IN the aftermath of the recent decision by the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) councillors to abort their Annual General Meeting (AGM) because of a defective notice and an unconstitutional agenda, a Constitutional crisis is looming following revelations that most affiliates could be ineligible to attend the AGM due to the expiry of their mandates.
And it has been revealed that the decision has also thrown Zifa into a constitutional crisis arising from the possibility of the rescheduled AGM also being aborted along with any elections that may be held.
While everyone is obsessing about the aborted AGM in December, local football is faced with a more pressing conundrum, potentially the most devastating crisis to have ever befallen local football and one likely to create an unmanageable constitutional vacuum.
According to the Zifa constitution, the AGM is ordinarily held by 31 March, however, the last one was scheduled for December due to administrative issues. This precipitated a shift from the usual period in March to year end to give the new board time to find its feet.
Fast forward one year, and the Congress votes to postpone the AGM citing among the unprocedural issuance of the notice as well as a defective agenda.
The failure to hold the AGM means that a new date has to be set and notice sent to members 60 days in advance. The aborted Congress last year now means it cannot be held before 16 February.
The AGM was expected, among other matters, to craft a road map for the associations’ elections from area zones to the Board which are due this year.
Most of the association’s affiliates should have begun holding their elections culminating in the board elections.
Most affiliates including the four regions and the 10 provinces may not be legally entitled to sit on the Zifa Council after 31 January considering it is the period they should be holding elections.
The current situation then suggests that if this is the case, then the AGM will only have the 18 Premier Soccer League clubs and the six delegates from the National Association of Secondary Heads, National Association of Primary Heads and tertiary Institutions who each provide two delegates along with the board members.
Ordinarily elections are held in the area zones followed by provinces, and then come regions with the board and finally the board. The Council would have, at the aborted AGM, passed a resolution to appoint an Electoral Court to oversee its’ affiliates’ elections.
The association’s constitution dictates that the council is the supreme decision making body and for any resolution to be passed at an AGM, an absolute majority (50% or more) of the members must be present.
Article 23 (1) of the Zifa Constitution states: Decisions passed by the Congress shall only be valid if the absolute majority (more than 50%) of the Members who are entitled to vote are represented.
This scenario suggests that the AGM will be unable to pass any resolutions because of the fewer members and consequently cannot come up with an election road map leaving the association caught in an enviable situation where the board now assumes almost autonomous control of the game in Zimbabwe.
Zifa will also be facing another conundrum as the football governing body’s Electoral Code that was adopted in 2013 states that the electoral committee has to be in place six months before the elective Zifa Congress.
The term of the previous electoral committee has expired as the constitution stipulates they have to serve only two terms.
According to article 4 (3) of the code: “The Zifa congress at which the electoral committee is installed shall take place at least six months before the elective Zifa congress”.
With the Zifa congress where the electoral committee will be installed now scheduled for 17 February, it will mean holding elections before August would be in breach of the code.
One councillor said the administrative blunder had left them in a quandary over how to proceed with the elections.
“It might mean we add another year to our tenure because we cannot disrupt running leagues in order to engage in elections.
“What usually happens is that new leadership takes over before the season kicks in and they start planning for the coming year but having executives change towards the end of the season would be a serious misnomer,” said the councillor who declined to be identified for fear of victimisation.
A Zifa official revealed they would, however, coerce congress to amend the electoral code to remove the limiting clause but the plan could fall flat as councillors showed they will not be forced to sideline the Zifa constitution when they forced the rescheduling of the Zifa AGM in December.
