Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA)

She was initially not on the shortlist drafted by the Normalisation Committee last week. She however, later got the nod, albeit controversially, ahead of Sheasham’s Violet Njubane, Liberty Maidza, Owen Mugwagwa, Yvonne Manwa and Luckson Muradzikwa. Njubane reportedly had the backing of FIFA’s head of development programmes for Africa, Solomon Mudege. Sikumbuzo Ndebele favoured Luckson Muradzikwa, Cynthia Malaba wanted Nyasha Kadenge and there were some who wanted Violet Njubane. Normalisation Committee chairperson Lincoln Mutasa declined to reveal the identity of the new CEO. Or Violet Njubane may be tasked with handling the women’s desk at ZIFA, which has been without a women’s football administrator since Theresa Maguraushe was let go by the Felton Kamambo board. ^{[3] [4]}

It is reported that FIFA have rejected the appointment of Nyasha Kadenge. She had emerged a surprise choice for the vacant ZIFA CEO post. “FIFA insisted thorough background checks be made, and from “FIFA insisted on a thorough background check being made and from those checks, in terms of FIFA ethics, Kadenge was not satisfactory.

ZIFA been without a substantive CEO for nearly two years after then-general secretary Joseph Mamutse went AWOL, refusing to continue his duties in the absence of then-president Felton Kamambo. Chief operations officer Xolisani Gwesela acted as CEO until last month, when the Normalisation Committee dissolved his post along with those of technical director Wilson Mutekede and national teams general manager Wellington Mpandare. The Normalisation Committee are now coming up with an alternative name. The development also came as a FIFA delegation flew into the country on 8 October 2023 to conduct a club licensing workshop for Premiership sides in Harare on 10 October 2023. ^[5]

Operations

ZIFA operats in the following four regions :

• Central region (Matebeleland South and Midlands)
• Eastern region (Manicaland, Masvingo and Mashonaland East)
• Nothern region (Harare, Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland West)
• Southern region (Bulawayo, Matebeleland South)

Leagues

1. Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League
2. ZIFA Northern Region Division One League
3. ZIFA Southern Region Division One League
4. ZIFA Central Region Division One League
5. ZIFA Eastern Region Division One League

Asiagate Scandal

This was a match fixing scandal that came to the fore in 2010 after the national team's string of poor results. The Sports and Recreation Commission ordered an investigation to find out why the national team toured Malaysia in December 2009 without official authorization from ZIFA. The then ZIFA CEO Henrietta Rushwaya, was found guilty of sending the team to play unauthorized matches in Asia, Middle East and North Africa between August 2007 and January 2009. Rushwaya,and the then programs officer Jonathan Musavengana and FIFA-registered match agent Kudzi Shaba allegedly received US $10,000 for each of the matches.^[6] The players were each paid between US $2000-US $5000 by the Asian gaming syndicates. The Warriors played more than eight games in Asia loosing all the matches against small teams like Yemen, Thailand,Bulgaria and China. It was also revealed that Monomotapa Football Club had twice impersonated the country's national team. National team coach Norman Mapeza and his assistant Joey Antipas were suspended. Thirteen players and officials were issued with life bans, seven were banned for ten years, thirty seven for five years, a further twenty five for two years and six for one year.^[7]

References