Mirriam Sibanda
Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter—
DISCIPLINARY hearings for the three suspended Zifa board members will commence next week, according to the association’s chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze. The three officials — vice-president Omega Sibanda, board member for finance Ben Gwarada and women’s football boss Miriam Sibanda — were suspended in July on various charges.
“Hearings will commence next week. The disciplinary committee has already been appointed, but unfortunately I can’t reveal the names of the members involved for ethical reasons,” said Mashingaidze yesterday. The three board members were vocal critics of Zifa boss Cuthbert Dube’s leadership, resulting in their suspension from the board.
Omega and Gwarada face three counts each, while Miriam has to answer to 10 charges. Omega and Gwarada stand accused of contravening Article 1:15 of Schedule One of the Zifa rules and regulations of 2015. Count One says Omega and Gwarada both unlawfully and intentionally attended and chaired an unconstitutional Zifa extraordinary meeting called specifically to remove a lawfully elected Zifa president and board members, realising that there was a real risk or possibility that the gathering had not been sanctioned by the Zifa board in terms of the Zifa constitution.
Count Two reads: “In that during the month of May 2015 at Cresta Oasis, Harare, the respondents Omega Sibanda and Bernard Gwarada, one or both of them unlawfully and intentionally, without authority from the Zifa board spoke to the Press on diverse occasions and rubbished and uplifted the suspension of Miriam Sibanda, the chairperson of women’s football that had been duly imposed by the women football league’s assembly.”
According to count three, in June 2015, Omega and Gwarada unlawfully and with no approval from the Zifa board, leaked or caused to be leaked some Zifa board resolutions to the media after both had been suspended from the Zifa board on June 15, 2015.
It is not yet clear whether the trio will attend the hearings jointly or individually, but the timing of the cases has raised eyebrows as they come a few days before a crucial extraordinary general meeting that is likely to endorse the ouster of Dube as president, paving way for the sacking of Mashingaidze. The Zifa extraordinary meeting is set for October 3 in Harare.