Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) chairman Gerald Mlotshwa says he is not worried by the FIFA congress voting to uphold the suspension of Zimbabwe from the international football family.
At the 73rd FIFA congress in Rwanda yesterday, 199 of the 200 members of the world football governing body’s congress voted for Zimbabwe’s suspension to remain in place.
But Mlotshwa is unfazed by the development, saying neither the SRC nor ZIFA has approached FIFA to have the suspension lifted.
Mlotshwa insists what Zimbabwe needs right now are reforms in the administration of the game and not having the FIFA suspension lifted.
“There’s nothing new here. Neither SRC or to the best of my knowledge Zifa have approached Fifa to lift the suspension of Zimbabwe’s membership,” Mlotshwa told NewsDay.
“The focus is on reforms. Our conversations with Fifa are centered on reforms and not the lifting of Zifa’s suspension. No such formal request has been made yet. And no such formal request will be made until Zifa and SRC have agreed to the roadmap we have made previous reference to. That’s where our focus is and should be. It’s as simple as that,” he added.
To lift the suspension, FIFA is demanding the unconditional reinstatement of the Felton Kamambo-led ZIFA administration, which was suspended by the SRC, for several allegations, chief among them failure to account for public funds, last year.
Mlotshwa however, reiterated that it is no longer possible for Kamambo to be reinstated, since he was revoked by the ZIFA council during the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) held in Harare on April 23.
“It is a fact that Felton Kamambo is no longer the Zifa president, having been recalled by his own congress. It follows, logically, that the SRC is not able to reinstate him to that position. Any such attempt would, ironically, be blatantly unlawful in terms of Zifa’s current constitution as well as the Sports and Recreation Commission Act,” said Mlotshwa.
“It is most regrettable that certain legislators continue to demand that the SRC ignore the resolutions of the Zifa congress, violate Zifa’s constitution, and, incredibly, its own Act, a product of the Parliament of Zimbabwe, in reinstating Kamambo,” he added.