FIFA slams petition against FAZ
FIFA slams petition against FAZ 09.03.10
By Sports ReporterFIFA Southern Africa development officer Arshfold Mamelodi has said the on-going petitions against some FAZ executive committee members are ill-conceived and if not checked would retard the development of football in Zambia.
Mamelodi said while the petitioners had a constitutional right to seek the removal of executive members, such action had the potential to bring disorder in the running of the game.
Speaking at Press briefing at Pamodzi Hotel yesterday Mamelodi, who was in the country to conduct a two-day review of how FAZ was implementing professionalisation process, said petitioners should take actions for the good of the game.
He wondered why the same councillors who ushered in the Kalusha Bwalya-led FAZ executive were now calling for their removal barely two years after voting for them.
“As FIFA we become uncomfortable when such things are happening to our affiliate associations. We will not tolerate actions that may negate football development. All the actions must go towards football development as it were,” he said.
Mamelodi said if the petitions were worthy their pinch of salt, the people behind them would have been asking for the removal of the entire Kalusha executive and not just a few members.
He said should the petition be allowed to stand, the removal of secretariat employees must not be tolerated because they were only answerable to their employers, in this case FAZ executive.
He added that in view of such tendencies among its affiliate federations, FIFA was seeking a speedy review of the constitutions in its football family so that such detrimental issues like petitions are only tolerated where necessary.
Mamaelodi said the FAZ constitution must conform with the FIFA statutes and that its review was being looked at as a matter of urgency.
He said FIFA will send experts to work with the team that FAZ has put in place on the constitution review while also ensuring that the national governing body attains a level of professionalism in the running of the league.
If the local league was run at a professional level, he said, Zambia would reach the ‘promised land’.
He said FIFA was satisfied with the leadership of the FAZ executive and the strides Zambia had made in the last two years culminating into the good performance of the Chipolopolo at the Orange Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.
Mamelodi said the Information Technology (IT) equipment that was donated to FAZ yesterday would take Zambian football to leaps and bounds.
Kalusha received the equipment on behalf of FAZ at a ceremony that was attended by the entire FAZ executive and secretariat staff.
[Times of Zambia]
