BARNABAS ZULU
THE National Sports Council of Zambia (NSCZ) has announced that Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) General Secretary Reuben Kamanga will preside over the upcoming elective annual general meeting scheduled for this Friday in Kabwe.
This follows a directive based on legal guidance from the Attorney General, which confirmed that the mandate of the former FAZ executive committee and its president, Andrew Kamanga, expired on February 28, 2025.
“In the absence of an executive committee, the general secretary will lead in conducting the business of the AGM,” NSCZ Chief Executive Officer Sombwa Musunsa said.
The meeting was initially set for March 29, 2025, in Livingstone but was postponed due to a court injunction, which has now been lifted. The NSCZ stated that it worked closely with FAZ and consulted FIFA through the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Arts in facilitating the rescheduling.
Amid speculation regarding the exclusion of Andrew Kamanga from chairing the meeting or presenting financial statements, NSCZ dismissed such claims as misleading.
“We wish to dispel assertions made on some media platforms that the ministry decided not to allow the former FAZ president to chair the AGM nor present the financial statements for him not to expose the government for funds owed to the association,” the statement said. “On the contrary, FAZ still owes the ministry through unpaid user fees to the National Heroes Stadium and Levy Mwanawasa Stadium.”
The NSCZ further also that the government had recently extended financial support to FAZ.
“You may wish to note that the government continues to support FAZ in various ways, as was witnessed early this year when it assisted the association with K10 million to offset some of its debts,” it stated.
“Out of this amount, K7 million went towards payments of debts to NAPSA and ZRA, while K3 million was paid to the two stadiums.”
They also admitted delays in payments to national team players but assured that the ministry is working on clearing the outstanding amounts.
“We wish to admit that some payments have not been made to national team players,” NSCZ noted. “This status does not, in any way, affect the financial statements of FAZ, which ordinarily should be presented at the AGM.”
However, NSCZ has instructed that only the election of a new executive committee will be on the agenda for the meeting