The Chronicle
Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE Sports and Recreation Commission’s (SRC) decision to appoint a Zifa Restructuring Committee was cited as the main reason the Fifa Council resolved to provisionally suspend Zifa from all international football activities, Fifa president Gianni Infantino told delegates at the 72nd Fifa Congress in Doha, Qatar, yesterday.
Congress delegates yesterday voted for a full suspension, with 199 endorsing the Fifa Council’s February 24 resolution to slap Zifa with suspension, while two voted against.
Both the SRC and Minister of Youth Sport Arts and Recreation Kirsty Coventry have publicly stated that their worries were not the suspension by Fifa, but ridding Zimbabwean football of corruption, poor governance and financial mismanagement.
The restructuring committee is also busy on the ground and has since appointed an international audit firm to conduct a forensic audit at Zifa.
Two other Fifa members – Pakistan and Kenya – also suffered the same fate.
Pakistan’s ban was endorsed by 195 delegates, with four against, while 198 delegates agreed with the Fifa Council to suspend Kenya from international football.
“Fifa council suspended Zimbabwe Football Association on February 24, 2022, with immediate effect due to third party interference, in particular the take over of the Zifa football activities by a ‘so called’ restructuring committee appointed by the Government after the latter’s executive committee and the general secretary had been suspended which constituted a violation of the Fifa Statutes.
We therefore recommended that the Congress confirms this suspension of Zifa, enabling also the Council to lift the suspension once the pertinent requirements have been fulfilled,” Infantino told delegates before secretary general Fatma Samoura put the motion to suspend Zifa to a vote.
Contrary to claims by suspended Zifa president Felton Kamambo and Philimon Machana, there was no slot for Zimbabwe to plead her case.
The duo on Friday last week approached the Magistrates’ Court seeking temporary release of their passports in order to attend the Doha Indaba.
They claimed that their sole purpose was to try and avert a suspension through telling the correct story of the situation on the ground.
Article Source: The Chronicle