The football association’s watershed polls, the first aftera rare period of normalisation, are scheduled for Harare on January 25. Today marks exactly a month before those elections toselect a substantive executive committee, which will replace the ousted FeltonKamambo board that left in ignominious fashion after first being suspended bythe Sports and Recreation Commission in November 2021. The ZIFA Congress then weighed in with a revocation of theboard’s mandate in April 2022 before FIFA appointed Mutasa to head theNormalisation Committee.
But the election tempo moved into gear on Monday whenMutasa’s committee, with the aid of the Ethics and Integrity Committee,released the names of the aspirants who had succeeded to be candidates. That much-awaited announcement also touched off a stormwith those who fell by the wayside voicing strong protestations over theirdisqualification. Among the casualties of the Electoral Committee’s rule bookwere the potential election heavyweights: Farai Jere, Walter Magaya, ThembaMliswa, and Benjani Mwaruwari.
After initially contesting his ejection from the race, Jerelater yesterday backed down from appealing against the decision, arguing thathe had decided to “let football be the winner. After receiving some criticism from the aggrieved parties,Mutasa also reiterated his weekend message that his Normalisation Committee,which is acting as the Electoral Committee in these polls, was being guided bythe amended ZIFA constitution and the as.
