ZIFA CEO Henrietta Rushwaya was re-instated barely 48 hours after her suspension after lawyers warned the football authority that it had erred in procedure.

Rushwaya had been suspended by the ZIFA board pending investigations into Monomotapa Football Club’s trip to Malaysia last year during which they posed as the Zimbabwe national team.

ZIFA chairman Wellington Nyatanga, set to step down on March 27, said lawyers had advised that the move to suspend Rushwaya was unconstitutional. This followed revelations that text messages were used in convening the board meeting in Masvingo last Saturday, contrary to the ZIFA constitution.

Nyatanga told a news conference on Monday: "After consultations with our lawyer, we have since been advised that the decisions passed in Masvingo last Saturday were null and void.

"We asked for legal advice and were told that it was improper and unconstitutional to take such a route ... that it was improper and unconstitutional and we have decided to nullify all resolutions related to that meeting.”

Monomotapa’s trip last August was not sanctioned by the Sports and Recreation Commission as required of all teams going to play outside the country, Nyatanga added. There are other allegations of misconduct against Rushwaya over several tours to Asia by make-shift national team squads which are also said to have been done without the Commission's authority.

Nyatanga, a veteran football administrator, insists he expects a new ZIFA board to still pursue the investigation into possible misconduct by Rushwaya, who became ZIFA CEO in 2007.

"That process will be completed and, even if new faces come on board, they have the responsibility of completing that task,” Nyatanga said.