By Gift Phiri
HARARE – Hope Chizuzu has agreed to withdraw a lawsuit seeking to have Saturday’s Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) board elections stopped, after consultations with football stakeholders, members of the assembly and aspiring candidates.
In an emailed statement, Chizuzu said he had decided to withdraw the case to give the would-be board and assembly an opportunity to remedy concerns that the Zifa Electoral Committee was not properly constituted.
His move avoids potentially lengthy and costly litigation. The former Sunday Mail deputy sports editor did not comment beyond the embargoed statement.
“Upon further consultations and engagements with football stakeholders including some members of the assembly and aspiring candidates, I have decided to withdraw the case to give the would-be board and assembly an opportunity to remedy the same and other issues constitutional,” Chizuzu said.
“One of the candidates for the presidency, Philip Chiyangwa, categorically committed to remedying the constitutional issues and give football a chance should he win the mandate to lead Zifa. That selfless consideration persuaded me to believe, if he is elected he would honour that pledge.
“If his (Chiyangwa)’s word in the discussion is to be taken, then, he deserves to be elected ostensibly on that pledge for respect of the constitution, whose lack thereof had pushed me to bring the matter to court for remedy in the same place.
“For me, in this case any candidate who makes a commitment to restore constitutional respect is clearly a friend of football and therefore deserves my endorsement.
“For Chiyangwa to have demonstrated the humility to accept the flaws in the constitution, which Zifa CEO did not and pledging to seek remedy of the same, is a mark of good leadership which our game is crying for.”
Chizuzu had filed the lawsuit in the Harare High Court earlier this month, taking issue with the composition of the Electoral Committee, arguing that Article 3 of the Code clearly states that only members of Zifa shall constitute the Electoral Committee.
The Zifa Electoral Committee is made up of retired Labour Court judge Sello Nare, Tendai Madzorera a former Zifa vice president; Elizabeth Banda, a sports administrator; Musekiwa Mbanje a former prosecutor, Tichawana Nyahuma, a legal practitioner; Charles Sibanda, member of the Zifa High Performance Technical Committee and lawyer TK Hove.
Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze, Cornelius Bwanya, Passious Masunda and Ralph Maganga are ex-officio members of the committee.
Chizuzu said Madzorera, retired Labour Court Judge Nare, Mbanje, Hove, Nyahuma, Maganga and Banda were not members of Zifa as defined by the constitution, adding that Banda was an employee of government and therefore prohibited by the code from being a member of the committee as well as Masunda and Bwanya, who have illegally served in the committee for more than two terms against the code.
High Court judge, Justice Musakwa, made a preliminary determination that the matter was not urgent.
Chizuzu later filed an ordinary court application, insisting the case had strong material merits.
Chizuzu’s suit had named Mashingaidze, Sports minister Makhosini Hlongwane, the Sports and Recreation Commission as well as Fifa development officer for southern Africa Ashford Mamelodi, as defendants. Daily News
