PHILLIMON MHLANGA
The Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) has been dragged to the High Court for failing to release results of a Confederation of African Football (CAF) C course held in Bindura more than a year ago.
In his application filed on Friday, Abel Chimusaru, a technical director at ZRP Gweru Football Club, is demanding the immediate release of his results and that of 40 other coaches who attended the course between June 25 and July 9, 2017. The coaches had paid $250 each to attend the course.
One of Chimusaru’s lawyers Advocate Luckson Muradzikwa confirmed to Business Times that the case was filed on Friday saying: “Yes we filed the case on Friday under case number HC 8679 of 18.”
Chimusaru, who cited ZIFA, the country’s governing football body as the first respondent, Joseph Mamutse, ZIFA’s chief executive officer as the second respondent, Wilson Mutekede, the technical director at ZIFA as the third respondent and the association’s spokesperson, Xolisani Gwesela as the fourth respondent, expressed disquiet saying he wrote several letters to respondents and CAF between August and September this year, which had not been responded to by the time he approached the High Court last Friday.
“From June 25 2017 to July 9 2017, the applicant together with 40 other coaches attended a coaching course in Bindura which was supervised and organised by the second respondent through his instructor,” Chimusaru said in papers filed in the High Court.
“The said course was for a CAF C coaching certificate which in terms of the club licensing system is mandatory for a coach to have attained for him or her to coach either as head coach of Division two (club) or being an assistant coach in Division one.
“The applicant after seeing that more than a year has passed without receiving nor notified by the first respondent with the outcome of the results of the courses attended, has tried to write emails to CAF and copied to all the respondents officials on August 30 2018 to enquire about when the results are going to be released and when the suspended courses be reinstated,” he said.
“(But) the respondents did not bother to reply or even notify the applicant on his position. On September 2, 2018, the applicant then wrote another email to CAF and the respondents to further remind them of the August 30, 2018 email which they did not respond to. The applicant finally wrote another email on September 9, 2018 reminding CAF and the respondents as final demand to hear the official position but as of to date (last Friday), applicant has never received any favourable response.
Chimusaru averred that the “widespread disregard of the law and this unlawful behaviour by the respondents and similarly his employees has prompted the applicant to this application”.
If an order is granted by the High Court directing ZIFA to release the results, he said, the affected coaches would be able to progress to the next level in their quest to attain higher coaching badges, a situation which will open up doors for them in their coaching careers.
“The affected coaches are of different levels intending to progress to the next level of their respective coaching badges,” Chimusaru said.
“As of now, the applicant and other coaches are seated at home not doing anything and the continued withholding of their results is seriously detrimental to their coaching aspirations,” Chimusaru said.
