Harare (ZimEye) Suspended Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) chief executive officer Henrietta Rushwaya has bounced back barely a week after she was suspended by the association’s leadership.

Rushwaya was suspended Saturday at a ZIFA board meeting in Masvingo on accusations of failing to deal with the Zimbabwe national team’s controversial trip to Malaysia in December last year.

The Sports and Recreation Commission have demanded a report on the controversial trip where the Zimbabwe Warriors went to Malaysia and played against Thailand, a Malaysian club and Syria without clearance.

The warriors dismally lost some of their games and dropped their FIFA ranking.

Sources close to the fiasco say the ZIFA board which is only left with two weeks in office had felt pressure from the sports commission hence the decision to fire Rushwaya but decided to reverse at the advice of their legal advisor Ralph Maganga.

Zifa board members Gladmore Muzambi, Cecilia Gambe, Mwandibhuya Mutepfa and Solomon Mugavazi pushed the motion to suspend Rushwaya.

Outgoing ZIFA president Wellington Nyatanga on Monday categorically admitted that the association leadership had erred in handling Rushwaya’s case and declared the suspension null and void.

Addressing journalists Monday Nyatanga said, “Issues like the one related to the CEO were discussed in Masvingo and we realized that it’s a process and not an event,” said Nyatanga.

“We were advised that the route that we might have taken was improper and unconstitutional and we have decided to nullify all resolutions related to that meeting. Yes, the Sport and Recreation Commission made a requirement on the trip to Malaysia and that report is still to go to the SRC. We are still in the process of compiling that and the secretariat, which is headed by the chief executive, is also providing its input.

“After consultations with our lawyer, we have since been advised that the decisions passed in Masvingo were null and void.

“We asked for legal advice and were told that it was improper and unconstitutional to take such a route. Hence we are trying to correct this,” said Nyatanga.

Controversy has also arisen on the participation of incoming board members in vetoing the motion to suspend Rushwaya.

Patrick Hokonya, Solomon Mugavazi, Fungai Chihuri and Gift Banda who were elected recently participated in the decision to suspend Rushwaya before they get full mandate of the association.

ZIFA is currently holding elections across its regions to culminate in the election of the association’s new president.

A jovial Rushwaya said she would just concentrate on her job.

“Now it’s back to business as usual. It’s unfortunate what had happened at the weekend and we should not allow obstacles to disturb

“Focus is on CAF assignments this weekend and hosting Swaziland in CHAN.

“I have no hard feelings on the earlier decision by the board. Let by gones be by gones” she said.

Nyatanga admitted the Masvingo meeting did not discuss the problems the Warriors faced to get funds to travel to Swaziland for their last weekend CHAN game and the challenges being faced by four clubs representing Zimbabwe in Africa’s inter-club tournaments.

“I have nothing to hide; we did not discuss the Warriors because we had an urgent issue at hand. We needed to deal with the issue on the agenda in this case the Warriors trip to Malaysia,” Nyatanga said.

ZIFA has been accused of having miscued priorities by failing to prioritize national team assignments each time they play crucial qualifying games.

The warriors play Swaziland at the weekend in the return leg of the CHAN qualifiers. They prevailed over Swaziland in Mbabane last weekend beating the Sihlanguzis by 2 goals to one. (Zimbabwe ZimEye)

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