Deadlock over ousted ZIFA trio
THREE former ZIFA secretariat employees — Xolisani Gwesela, Wellington Mpandare and Wilson Mutekede — are reportedly headed for a showdown with the FIFA-appointed Normalisation Committee after refusing to be elbowed out “without due compensation”.
The trio were notified early last month of the decision to dissolve their positions.
Gwesela was ZIFA’s chief operations officer, while Mutekede and Mpandare were technical director and national teams’ general manager, respectively.
Lawyers representing the three told The Sunday Mail Sport yesterday that they were concerned that ZIFA “are trying to bully and intimidate the workers”.
One of the lawyers, Edwell Maposa, said although Gwesela, Mpandare and Mutekede were amenable to negotiations, they were worried about lack of clarity on who between ZIFA and FIFA will be responsible for their exit packages.
The last round of negotiations between ZIFA and the former employees was on Friday.
“Negotiations are underway, though we feel that they have taken long because ZIFA would constantly need consultation with FIFA,” said Maposa.
“We needed to know who in particular wanted to discharge our clients between FIFA an ZIFA so that whoever is responsible then provides the funding.
“Initially, they (ZIFA) had indicated that they were seeking mutual termination but the approach has been that of intimidation.
“If it is FIFA who are giving directives that the workers must leave, we need directives that are lawful and which respect the labour laws of Zimbabwe.”
Normalisation Committee member and lawyer Nyasha Sanyamandwe confirmed they were seized with the termination of the trio’s contracts but declined to publicly discuss much before she has been cleared by the committee.
However, last month, she warned about the potential of the matter degenerating into a labour dispute.
“As recommended, the dismissal of Mr Gwesela, Mr Mutekede and Mr Mpandare from ZIFA secretariat is a proposal that is not only complicated but irregular in the absence of just cause,” wrote Sanyamandwe then.
“Please, take notice that should there be alleged impropriety against the above-mentioned members of the secretariat that is known to any one member of the NC, or anyone among the football stakeholders, such must be made available to the committee and investigations ensue through due process of fair labour practices.
“We need to constantly observe that we are a Normalisation Committee and we must exercise professionalism, fairness and justice in discharging our duties and avoid being swallowed into the toxicity of football factions which we had been mandated to normalise.”
In an earlier communication to the affected members of the secretariat, the committee’s chairperson, Lincoln Mutasa, said: “This letter serves as a formal notification of our engagements with you regarding the termination of your employment contract.
“We seek to have this termination mutually agreed by both parties, yourselves and the Zimbabwe Football Association.
“Future engagements regarding your terminal packages will be conducted immediately so that this process is completed as soon as possible.
“The basis for making this decision emanates from the restructuring exercise that took place and your job title has since been dissolved.”
But Maposa accuses ZIFA of deviating from the spirit of their correspondence.
“While we were discussing mutual separation, we noticed that they also tried to smuggle disciplinary issues when negotiations had started.
“They have offered what they have offered and we have rejected three times, but we have repeatedly said that since it is mutual separation, our stance is that . . . they need to compensate them in terms of the contracts, but we remain amenable to negotiations for mutual separation, where there is a meeting of minds, not the tone of bullying one party,” Maposa said.