The Felton Kamambo led ZIFA has accused COSAFA president Philip Chiyangwa for pushing for the ban of his country of origin “for a crime he individually committed” through making the “unauthorized bid” to host the 2018 tournament.
The ZIFA board say they will thus not be relenting in their motion to revoke the presidency of Chiyangwa in COSAFA.
The board insists, contrary to widely circulated reports which portrayed a scenario implying the case was thrown out, the matter was still alive.
“The Association received a letter from COSAFA in relation to sanctions and our failure to host the 2019 COSAFA Senior Men’s tournament,” the association said in a statement on Saturday morning.
“ZIFA is still engaging and will soon come up with its official position regarding this matter and key to this decision is whether ZIFA will in future be partaking in the COSAFA competitions or the Association shall concentrate on development of our local competitions, CAF and FIFA competitions,” the association said.
ZIFA said the while the current are taking punishment they did not bid for hosting the tournament and “equally its efforts to escape the potential censor through hosting was equally denied by the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation”.
“It is important that the public appreciates that ZIFA is therefore being punished for crimes committed by other parties,” the association said.
This comes after the Chiyangwa led COSAFA recently suspended Zimbabwe from participating in the 2020 senior men’s COSAFA Cup tournament following its withdrawal from hosting the 2019 football extravaganza.
COSAFA ruled that ZIFA board had failed to comply with an agreement to host 2019 COSAFA cup as agreed.
Only a few days earlier, COSAFA had hit back at ZIFA’s motion to recall Chiyangwa from the association of football nations saying ZIFA’s issues with Chiyangwa are domestic and have nothing to do with COSAFA.
