The world football governing body, Fifa has instructed the Sports and Recreation Commission {SRC} to reverse its firing of the Felton Kamambo led Zifa board by the 3rd of January 2022.
In a letter addressed to Joseph Mamutse, the suspended Zifa Chief Executive Officer and copied to CAF, the continental football governing body, Fifa Chief Member Association officer Kenny Jean-Marie gave the SRC an ultimatum to restore the Zifa body by the 3rd of January, failure to which Fifa would refer the issue to the Bureau of FIFA Council for consideration and decision.
In the letter Jean Marie said:
“We kindly ask you to inform the SRC that in the event its decisions to suspend the ZIFA executive committee members and to appoint a “restructuring committee” instead are not reversed before 3 January 2022 at the latest, we would have no other choice but to submit the present matter to the Bureau of FIFA Council for consideration and decision.”
The decision on the council would most likely result in the suspension of Zimbabwe from all international footballing activities.
This comes as the Nation is preparing for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nation’s tournament which kicks off on the 9th of January 2022.
A provisional squad for the tournament had already been announced and is expected to start trooping into camp.
However, in its letter Fifa admonished the SRC for failure to furnish it with all the relevant information regarding the suspension and eventual firing of the Kamambo led board. It further state that the SRC pulled out of crucial meeting to deal with the issue, only to later learn that it had pressed ahead with its decision to fire the Zifa board and replaced it with a “restructuring committee”
Fifa also bemoaned the fact that the SRC was “relying on mere accusations” to take action against the Felton Kamambo led association, noting that it hadn’t been furnished with any outcomes of a competent court on the charges against Zifa.
Meanwhile efforts to hear from ZIFA and SRC were fruitless as they both refused to give a comment on the FIFA statement.