By SANDRA MWILA  and NDINAWE SIMPELWE –
FAZ life member Luckson Kazabu says Zambia risks being sanctioned by FIFA after the Sports Council of Zambia  (SCZ), a Government wing, interfered in an internal matter.
Meanwhile, former FAZ vice-president Emmanuel Munaile says the SCZ has misled itself by directing the association not to discuss the suspension of vice-president Richard Kazala and committee member Blackwell Siwale.
Kazabu said FIFA were very serious with matters of interference especially that the SCZ was a government wing. He said it was pre-mature for SCZ to investigate the matter now when FAZ had not tabled it before the councillors.
“It is strange for SCZ to come in on a disciplinary matter because they are an umbrella of FAZ. They should be a body of appeal when a party is aggrieved and have exhausted all internal channels,” Kazabu said.
Speaking in a separate interview, Munaile observed that the role of the sports council was merely to supervise and not impose itself on associations.
He said the matter was an internal issue which should be left to the councillors to decide just like FIFA had directed.
“The role of the sports council is to supervise and not make decisions for associations. When did the sports council become an investigation wing for sports associations? And after they investigate, then what? They have no powers to reverse or uphold the suspension,” he said.
FAZ president Andrew Kamanga last year suspended Kazala and Siwale for gross misconduct and after the duo refused to recognise the suspension, the matter was taken to FIFA who directed that the councillors should decide the fate of the two.
But earlier this week, FAZ vice-secretary Lombe Mbalashi disclosed the SCZ had directed the association not to table the matter before the meeting until it had carried out its own investigations.
Munaile said some members had been banned for life and their ban lifted without the SCZ being involved and wondered what was so special about the current case which should attract and reduce the SCZ to an investigative body for FAZ.
Football administrator Chisanga Pule said the suspension of the FAZ executive members was a matter that the council should deal with as mandated in the constitution.
Pule said SCZ will put FAZ in a constitutional breach and will risk being suspended by FIFA who guided that the matter be tabled to the councillors to decide.
“By them (SCZ) stepping in means the matter won’t be tabled within the 90 days as guided by the constitution. FAZ has its own constitution different from SCZ. It’s like the High Court is presiding on a matter and the Supreme Court wants to step in. It does not make sense,” Pule said.
He added that no one had the authority to change an agenda that has already been circulated to clubs.
Nkana chairperson Evaristo Kabila said it was high time FAZ resolved the matter as it was long overdue.
“We have followed the happenings at FAZ as a club for a long time. It will be good for the two parties to resolve for the benefit of the sport. I don’t know for sure what powers SCZ are using to step in a FAZ internal matter because FAZ has structures within that can deal with the matter,” Kabila said.
Kabila added that the matter should be left to the FAZ council and that SCZ should only step in if they fail to resolve it.
Former Forest Rangers committee member Watson Mwale also expressed shock at the manner SCZ decided to involve itself in a matter that FIFA had given directive.