Zambian football teeters on a FIFA precipice

ARTHUR SIMCHOBA | Friday December 3, 2010 00:00

But they are not kitted out in soccer jerseys; they are in full riot gear. In anticipation of trouble, presumably.

Little has been happening on football fields, lately. Premier league fixtures have had to be abandoned for want of match officials while referees have boycotted games to press their demands for an emergency council meeting of FAZ affiliates to 'map out the way forward for Zambian football'.

Fixtures for 2010, including a cup final, are still outstanding. These circumstances are unprecedented. 

Zambian football is clearly in the grips of its most serious crisis ever, and the situation seems set to get worse before it can get better.

Since November 26, Zambia has two competing soccer administration bodies: one is the embattled FAZ executive led by the 1988 Africa Footballer of the Year and former Zambian captain and coach Kalusha Bwalya whose term of office should run up to 2012.

The other is an interim committee led by Edward Kamanga, a Kabwe Warriors FC official who was ushered into office on November 26 by an emergency council meeting of disaffected affiliates. It was given a 90-day mandate to 'clean-up' Zambia's soccer administration before calling fresh elections.

However, the very next day, the Bwalya executive held its own council that was attended by the FIFA head of member associations, Primo Corvaro. It reaffirmed Bwalya as FAZ President.

Daggers drawn Now, FIFA, the world soccer governing body, is wielding the axe. It has put its weight behind the Bwalya-led executive and warned of serious consequences for Zambian football should the disaffected affiliates continue their 'rebellion and usurpation.'

'We will not recognise the new executive,' Corvaro declared. 'They did not follow procedure.'

But FIFA's intervention is seen by the 'insurgents' as misplaced and out of touch, its threat as a baseless one that FIFA is making only because it can carry it out.

Their position is that there is no basis for FIFA to act against the interim committee because it came into office in strict compliance with the FAZ constitution.

That constitution, they claim, stipulates that the FAZ Executive Committee can remain in office only for as long as it forms a quorum. Once membership falls below that, it is automatically dissolved.

This view is shared by the Zambia Premier League (ZPL), the Referees Association of Zambia (RAZ) and by at least two thirds of FAZ affiliates who petitioned for and attended the emergency council meeting.

Four members of the Bwalya-led FAZ executive resigned their positions on October 1 this year. The last to resign was its Vice President, former international and now an Independent Member of Parliament (MP), Emmanuel Munaile. The previous day, three other committee members had 'voted with their feet!' 

The effect of those resignations was that the FAZ executive no longer formed a quorum. However, Bwalya subsequently co-opted four people to fill the vacancies, but some declined.

According to the 'insurgents,' Bwalya's nominations were null and void because constitutionally, the FAZ president can co-opt members of the executive only when the executive he heads can form a quorum.

Bwalya's executive stood dissolved the moment the four stepped out and his only option was to call an annual general meeting (AGM) for fresh elections, the 'insurgents' press on.

Bwalya disputes that, insisting that he could lawfully co-opt as he did. Two thirds of FAZ affiliates do not agree. That is the crux of one aspect of the dispute. For it is larger and there is a dimension personalities.

As the drama unfolds, there is little to suggest that the loss of a quorum on the FAZ executive was accidental. It is a measure of Bwalya's isolation and the exasperation and discomfort that those who work with him feel. They question his leadership style and regard the former soccer idol as aloof, secretive and non-team player who is dismissive of others. 

He is also accused of spending too much time outside Zambia to be effective. There has been a steady build-up of resentment towards him.

The feeling is that while he served Zambia well as a footballer, his talents as a leader and administrator are do not measure up. As his detractors zero in on him, the view is growing that it is primarily he that must be brought to heel if Zambian football should be saved.

The Zambian government has kept a studied distance from the whole saga. It is loathe to be drawn into the matter even though its arm, the Sports Council of Zambia (SCZ), also holds that FAZ was dissolved after the resignation of four of its committee members.

However, with FIFA support behind him, Bwalya is flexing his muscles and warning the 'insurgents' of disciplinary action. But will they get out of the way? Their recent pronouncements suggest that they will resist. The interim Secretary-General, Simataa Simataa, is a former FAZ president and is familiar with the world governing body's procedures.

A worst-case scenario would be for the imbroglio to continue and escalate to a point of a FIFA ban on Zambia. This is possible if the protagonists are left to their devices. (Sila Press Agency)