The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) has ruled that the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) elections (which were challenged in court by Damiano Mutale and Patson Lusaka, in the Court of Arbitration by Kalusha Bwalya and at the National Sports Council of Zambia (NSCZ) by Mumbo Lombe) can now proceed and be held on 27th February 2021 at the AGM.
The Football Association of Zambia has since issued a letter to all clubs letting them know that the provincial elections that were yet to be held are now to be held in the next two weeks prior to the AGM.
The brings to an end a long running saga that started in January 2020 when the electoral road-map was derailed by challenge after challenge.
What does this mean?
It means that the FAZ Appeals Committee decision that Kalusha Bwalya cannot stand stands and he won’t be on the ballot. It also means that only candidates whose names were cleared can proceed. Unfortunately, we have since lost two candidates – FAZ aspiring Presidential candidate Joseph Nkole who died on 8th January 2021 and incumbent and aspiring FAZ vice president candidate Rix Mweemba who died on 6th October 2020 – and it is not clear what the electoral rules say on removing the two from the ballot or indeed replacing them.
I will be penning a more detailed article covering the letter from FIFA and the issues it looked at.
However, you will recall that from day one I always insisted that the route taken by Kalusha Bwalya had been the wrong one and that his one and only chance was for him to get clearance from the FIFA Ethics Committee which last month declared Andrew Kamanga eligible to contest the forthcoming FIFA Council elections after passing integrity tests.
Sad News for Zambian football