The Sunday News
Simba Jemwa, Sports Correspondent
WHILE accusations and counter accusations have been thrown back and forth over the last few months, it has been revealed that the 27 councillors who attempted to force their hand and revoke the mandate of the Felton Kamambo-led board did so unconstitutionally.
The 27 councillors petitioned the Zifa board to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting on 29 January, but their bid failed and now all 27 have been suspended and face disciplinary action.
The disgruntled members of the ZIFA Assembly were rebuffed by FIFA who wrote to the association, advising them to observe the constitutional requirements in full and defer the EGM that was set to revoke the mandate of Felton Kamambo and his board.
Kamambo and his board had however, already been suspended by the Sport and Recreation Commission.
Constitutional issues that have arisen include a failure by the councillors to observe the 90-day requirement for holding such a meeting, failing to produce written mandates from the actual members of Zifa who in this case the regions, provinces and clubs they purported to represent.
According to Article 10 of the Zifa constitution, members of the association are the clubs, regions, provinces and area zones and any legal or natural person who applies to the association for membership in writing.
Each of the Premier Soccer League clubs is a member individually while each of the 10 provinces, the four regions, National Association of Secondary Heads (Nash), National Association of Primary Heads (Naph), National association of Tertiary Institutions, Futsal Zimbabwe, Beach Soccer Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe Women’s Football, and area zones are the bona-fide members of Zifa.
A source who is well acquainted with the terms of the Zifa constitution but sought anonymity for professional reasons told Sunday News that as a consequence of this article, the 27 councillors are recognised as delegates to the assembly and not members or affiliates and as such must carry the mandate of their individual constituents via a resolution made at an official meeting.
“The 27 who signed the petition and sought to force the board to hold an EGM were in fact not mandated to do so unless they can produce proof that they had resolutions from the members of Zifa they represent. And without that, their actions were illegal and their suspension was justified.
Article 21 section 1 of the Zifa constitution makes that clear when it lists these councillors as delegates and not as members.
Section 2 of the same article stipulates that a delegate must belong to the member that they represent and be appointed or elected by the appropriate body of that member.
It goes on to say they must also be able to produce evidence of this upon request,” the source added.
Also called into the question was how the 27 councillors proceeded to call the EGM. According to Article 28 of the Zifa constitution, the executive committee may convene an EGM at any time or when one-third of the members of Zifa make such a request in writing and the request shall specify the items for the agenda.
It goes on to state that the meeting shall be held within three months of receipt of the request and if an EGM is not convened, the members who requested it may convene the Congress themselves.
In section 3 of the article, the constitutions state that members shall be notified of the place, date and agenda at least 14 days before the date of the AGM.
In the case of 27 councillors, they wrote to Zifa and stipulated a date themselves while also “giving the impression that this was a resolution of the members they represent yet no written proof of this was provided.” One such ‘member’ is a PSL club chairman whose club was reportedly surprised to find out that he had been suspended by Zifa, yet the club had not deliberated on the issue of the petition.
Members of the suspended board also pointed out they had in fact furnished councillors with financial statements last year, while they were suspended before the AGM was due to be held, which was due for 30 December.
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