Zimbabwe: FIFA Gives Lifeline to Kamambo-Led Zifa Board

World football governing body FIFA has handed a lifeline to the Felton Kamambo-led ZIFA board a lifeline and blocked moves by some members of the local association to call for an extraordinary meeting Saturday.

The now ill-fated meeting, which was being spearheaded by some of ZIFA's affiliates such as Premier Super League (PSL) clubs and the ZIFA Northern Region was expected to result in the revocation of some of the board members' mandate.

However, FIFA in a letter to the suspended Zifa chief executive Joseph Mamutse said the planned extraordinary meeting violates the domestic football mother body's constitution.

"We (have) recently been informed that on 3 January 2022, some ZIFA members have called for an extraordinary congress which is apparently due to take place on 29 January 2022," wrote FIFA chief member association officer Kenny Jean-Marie in a letter dated January 26, 2022.

"In this respect, we would like to refer you to art.28,2 of the current ZIFA statutes (2013 edition) which states that: 'The executive committee shall convene an extraordinary congress if one-third of the members of ZIFA make such a request in writing. The request shall specify the items for the agenda. An extraordinary congress shall be held within three months of receipt of the request. If the extraordinary congress is not convened, the members who requested it may convene the congress themselves. As a last resort, the members may request assistance from CAF or FIFA.'

"Accordingly, we are of the opinion that ZIFA's executive committee must be given the time foreseen in the ZIFA statutes to convene the requested extraordinary congress (i.e up until 3 April 2022) before the ZIFA members can lawfully convene it themselves.

"In other words, we consider that the relevant ZIFA members are not entitled to convene the extraordinary congress themselves on 29 January, as this would contravene the above-mentioned statutory provisions.

"Therefore, we kindly ask you to inform the said ZIFA members and the executive committee about the foregoing so that the relevant measures can be taken on both sides."

The decision by FIFA comes after almost 30 ZIFA congress members last month requested for an EGM, where the ZIFA board which was suspended by the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) was set to answer to several charges.

The board is being accused of misusing Covid-19 relief funds, sweeping sexual abuse allegations under the carpet and turning a blind eye to match-fixing accusations, among other offences transgressions.

Kamambo's board was suspended by the SRC on similar charges in November.

This article originally appeared on New Zimbabwe

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