THE Government has given the green light for the
Highlanders Football Club elections to be held despite efforts by Zifa to
subvert the club’s Constitution and wield its will over it.
Government’s representative body in sports, the Sports and
Recreation Commission, yesterday called on Zifa to respect the Highlanders FC
Constitution and allow its due processes to prevail while also describing the
issue of suspended chairman Peter Dube as a purely administrative matter.
Acting SRC director-general Joseph Muchechetere said it was
imperative for the mother body to acknowledge the importance of an affiliate’s
Constitution as that organisation’s guiding principle.
Muchechetere said the moment Zifa accepted the membership of
Highlanders and any other affiliate by way of registering its Constitution, it
literally accepted that same Constitution and recognised its statutes. He said
by virtue of its membership with Zifa by way of its registration, the
Highlanders Constitution should be respected as absolute.
“As the SRC we feel that Zifa should acknowledge that
Highlanders is its affiliate and has its own statutes that govern its running.
The fact that Highlanders lodged its Constitution with Zifa upon affiliation
means that Zifa accepted that same Constitution to be the affiliate’s governing
document and its statutes to be absolute in as far as that affiliate is
concerned,” said Muchechetere.
He said it was both Zifa and football’s interest to be able
to understand the precepts of such documents and the importance they hold for
associations and their affiliates.
“All sporting codes must understand that all their
operations and due processes are prescribed in their Constitutions. As such
associations cannot summarily decide to subvert their affiliates’ guiding
statues without consultation,” Muchechetere added.
He said the Zifa Constitution should only supersede that of
its affiliates if the latter is not clear about a specific issue or issues. He
said in that event, the higher Constitution becomes supreme.
Commenting on the suspension of Peter Dube, Muchechetere
said this was purely an administrative issue and should not be brought up when
Constitutional matters are being decided. He said Zifa had erred in addressing
the suspension as a Constitutional matter and alluding to it in attempting to
subvert the Highlanders statutes and stop the club’s elections which are due
next month.
“Zifa was wrong to cite the suspension of Peter Dube as
among its reasons to override the Highlanders Constitution and call off the
elections. Dube’s suspension is an administrative matter that should never have
an effect on Constitutional matters whatsoever,” Muchechetere said. Chronicle
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