daniel chigunwe
Petros Kausiyo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
ZIFA’s Normalisation Committee are adamant that the football association’s watershed elections will go ahead as planned on January 25 despite court protests by disqualified executive committee aspirants.
The trio of Benjani Mwaruwari, Gift Banda, and Prophet Walter Magaya, who were disqualified, have undertaken legal process to challenge their exclusion from the elections to choose the next executive committee to administer the domestic football mother body.
The 11-member executive committee, also known as the board, which is expected to come into office on January 25, will have a four-year mandate to run the affairs of ZIFA.
However, Mwaruwari and Banda have lodged their joint appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, while Yadah Stars president Magaya’s bid is with the High Court in Harare.
Former Zimbabwe captain Mwaruwari was disqualified from running for the presidency, as was Magaya.
Banda, elected vice president in 2018, was bidding to bounce back at ZIFA in the same capacity this year.
But the three men’s nominations were deemed to have failed to pass the Ethics and Integrity Test conducted by the Normalisation Committee, sitting as the Electoral Committee at the behest of FIFA to expedite the transition to normalcy.
The trio’s names were conspicuous from the list, which the Normalisation Committee made public on December 23, along with those of Farai Jere and Temba Mliswa.
There are indications that Mliswa is launching a different challenge at the ZIFA High Court, which is among other contestations questioning the legitimacy of Congress to partake in the polls.
Normalisation Committee member Nyasha Sanyamandwe yesterday responded to the protestations lodged by Mwaruwari, Magaya, and Banda insisting that ZIFA were going ahead with preparing to stage the elections as scheduled on January 25.
Convening the elective assembly will be the Normalisation Committee’s last administrative task before they assume the tag of Electoral Committee and conduct the elections.
But before that happens, the Normalisation Committee finds themselves having to grapple with the challenges being posed by the appeals lodged against their December 23 pronouncement.
And Lincoln Mutasa’s Normalisation Committee which also includes ex-Mighty Warriors skipper and coach Rosemary Mugadza, spoke out for the first time, through Sanyamandwe, since talk of the court objections went viral.
The Normalisation Committee indicated that no changes to the time-lines, which they have set in line with the election roadmap, have been made.
Sanyamandwe, the legal brains in the three-member Normalisation Committee, also confirmed receiving the papers from CAS and for the High Court application.
“The ZIFA Normalisation Committee, acting in its capacity as the ZIFA Electoral Committee, acknowledges receipt of Walter Magaya’s court application for review, filed with the High Court of Zimbabwe, challenging his ineligibility to contest for the ZIFA presidency,’’ Sanyamandwe said.
“This ineligibility was communicated on 23 December 2024. The ZIFA Electoral Committee wishes to clarify that Mr. Magaya’s decision to approach local courts is ultra vires the ZIFA Statutes.
“While the application is framed as a request for review, it does not address any procedural irregularities but rather raises substantive issues that should have been directed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), as stipulated by the ZIFA Statutes,’’ she said.
Sanyamandwe said Magaya’s contestation should have followed the same route undertaken by Mwaruwari and Banda.
“In contrast, we commend both Benjani Mwaruwari and Gift Banda for their adherence to the established processes.
“Their decision to challenge their ineligibility at CAS demonstrates a commitment to upholding the ZIFA Statutes.
“We remain cooperative and committed to ensuring a transparent process and pledge to respect the CAS verdict when it is issued.
“For clarity, we received the CAS application on Monday afternoon, 6 January 2025. The Electoral Committee is working closely with its external legal counsel to ensure an appropriate response within the stipulated dies inducia of two days.
“We will monitor the CAS proceedings closely and engage as required. As it stands, the ZIFA elections will proceed as scheduled.
The Electoral Committee is fully committed to conducting the elections in a fair, transparent, and orderly manner, added Sanyamandwe.
Sanyamandwe could, however, be drawn into revealing the outlines of the appeals lodged by the trio.
In line with their roadmap, the Normalisation Committee are expected to announce the final list of candidates on January 15.
On the same day, they will also reveal the identities of the 78 delegates from the ZIFA members who will be eligible to cast their votes when Congress converges at the Rainbow Towers on January 25.
Away from the court challenges, the remaining presidential aspirants — Nqobile Magwizi, Martin Kweza, Philemon Machana, Twine Phiri, Marshall Gore, and Makwinji Soma-Phiri — have since the turn of the New Year upped their campaign trails.
The six men, along with the vice president and board member candidates, have been hard at work in their bids to convince the electoral college to back them and vote them into the new-look ZIFA leadership to be ushered into office.
Yet ex-Manchester City forward Mwaruwari, Magaya, and Banda could be part of that cast of candidates, should what they are praying for, before the panel of judges at CAS and the High Court, yield positive results.
But there is no doubting that this ZIFA election has hogged the limelight well before the councillors decide the direction that Zimbabwean football will take in the next four years.
Online Reporter
