Sports Minister Coventry claims Zim football moving in the right direction
Sports Minister Kirsty Coventry claims that Zimbabwean football is moving in the right direction and all the problems afflicting the country’s most followed sport will be rectified sooner than expected.
This comes after Coventry told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Youth, Sport Arts and Recreation on Thursday that various stakeholders are working with the government arm, the SRC to ‘find solutions to get ZIFA readmitted back into the FIFA family’.
Zimbabwe is currently serving a FIFA suspension since last year February following third party interference after the SRC suspended the Felton Kamambo led ZIFA board for alleged misuse of funds and sexual abuse.
To lift the ban , FIFA have instructed Zimbabwe to reinstate Kamambo and all the suspended members.
“I am meeting with the SRC board next week. They have asked to come through and give me a full briefing. Once I have received that full briefing from them, I can then come to you on those specific points,” said Coventry.
“But at this point in time there has been some good movement with our national football. All the various stakeholders are working with the SRC in trying to come up with solutions on how to move forward.”
Her sentiments comes after the SRC recently released a report which was compiled by the ZIFA Restructuring Committee, highlighting some of the issues affecting Zimbabwe’s football.
Reforming the ZIFA constitution that was deemed as outdated and also to have a minimum qualification for the members of the ZIFA assembly and government’s funding for the national teams are other recommendations that were in ZIFA’s Restructuring Committee report released last week.
Furthermore, the committee also recommended that public office bearers should be barred from holding administrative positions at ZIFA, citing conflict of interest.
FIFA told the SRC to reinstate the suspended ZIFA board so its not clear what Coventry means by saying the stakeholders are meeting to come up with solutions.
