ZIFA Restructuring Committee Hands Over Report To SRC
The Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) Restructuring Committee has handed over its final report to the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC).
The committee was established in December 2021 as part of the strategic roadmap toward addressing the challenges that have affected football management and administration in Zimbabwe.
The committee’s chairman Blessing Rugara on Wednesday told The Herald that they had submitted their report to the Sports and Recreation Commission by 23 December 2022.
The committee had been given until 31 December 2022 to complete its task. Said Rugara:
We have completed the task that was mandated for us to do. I am sure there is a press release that is going to be made by the Sports Commission maybe tomorrow (today) or in the next few coming days.
The report is in three parts. The first part deals with presentations from the various stakeholders, then findings and recommendations.
There are recommendations to the ZIFA constitution which is the primary impediment to Zimbabwean football, in our view.
The committee exercised due diligence but there are obviously always challenges when you are trying to make changes to institutions such as ZIFA.
There is a lot in the report as you shall discover once it is made public. Of course, I would be pleased to see the recommendations being implemented for the betterment of the game.
We would also want to see the Government taking responsibility for football more directly so that the athletes get the level of support they need without facing impediments such as a lack of funds when they go out there.
That’s one of the major recommendations we made.
The SRC suspended the ZIFA in November 2021 on allegations of abuse of funds and the sexual harassment of female referees among other charges.
In February 2022, FIFA suspended ZIFA’s membership on grounds of “third-party interference”.
As a result, all the national teams were barred from participating in international competitions until the ZIFA board is reinstated.
