The Sunday Mail
Explosive debate over the US$6 million loan accessed by the Zimbabwe Cricket from the International Cricket Council has forced the organisation’s chairman, Peter Chingoka, to come out of his shell. Speaking in an interview on Friday, Chingoka disclosed that ZC faced a severe liquidity crunch after India cut their tour towards the end of last year.
He added that in a bid to bridge the finance gap, they approached the ICC for a US$19,1 million bailout.
However, the figure was revised down to US$6 million.
“Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) has refrained from commenting on the articles that have been appearing in the media over the past fortnight.
“We did not wish to be involved in the debate, more so because of its genesis. However, the situation now is such that we need to come in with some sort of stance,” he said.
Chingoka claimed that the debate was ignited by a “leaked” discussion paper.
“The debate began after an F and CA (Finance and Financial Affairs Committee) discussion paper was leaked and appeared in the media like a public document yet it was strictly confidential and for the internal discussion purposes of the F and CA only.
“It is regrettable that this initial F and CA discussion paper was leaked in its raw form. On the debate itself, we want to put it on record that ZC currently has a balance on an outstanding loan with the ICC.
“Towards the end of last year, we were faced by a cash flow hitch following the shortening of the India tour to Zimbabwe because of the demands on their tour schedule, which led to a reduction in our revenue from that tour.
“We therefore needed financial assistance to help us bridge the gap to our next income, which would be proceeds from the ICC World Twenty20 (ICC WT20) tournament in Bangladesh earlier this year.
“Against that background, in October we asked the ICC for a loan of US$19,1 million. It was felt that the amount was quite large.
“We were advised to apply for an advance of US$6 million, to be repaid after the ICC WT20 tournament. In light of that application for the advance, the ICC then resolved at its January 2014 meeting that the ZC and ICC management should sit down and do a business plan which would be a comprehensive exercise covering the period up to 2016.
“In the interim, in order to ensure our uninterrupted participation in the ICC WT20, the ICC Development International Board availed to us US$2,5 million as the second loan, for our working capital. The loan is to be repaid in 2015,” he said
Meanwhile, Chingoka says the impending dissolution of the Southern Rocks franchise does not mean that Zimbabwe Cricket is abandoning Masvingo province.
He disclosed that plans are currently in the works to amalgamate it into the other four franchises.
Chingoka described the fact that “correspondence on the impending dissolution leaked to the Press in a manner that created unnecessary unrest which is way off the mark” as sad.
“In terms of branding a name, yes there will be an impact on a franchise, most likely Masvingo’s Southern Rocks, but this is not to say that we are abandoning the province.
“We are still looking into the ways in which we can combine the province with the other remaining franchises.
“Masvingo is ideal in that the province is geographically located in such a way that we have the option of combining the area with, let’s say, Mountaineers (Manicaland), since the two are neighbours and the same goes for Midwest Rhinos (Midlands) which is also located in close proximity to Masvingo,” he said.
The ZC chairman conceded that the franchise system has not worked to expectations.
“There was never anything scientific or imperial about the manner in which we introduced the franchise system; we just said since we have these 10 provinces let’s group them together and trim them to five. We decided to join those close to each other and then have them work under the franchise cricket module.
“However, we have learnt that our dream of getting the franchises to a level where people would be able to buy the franchises was perhaps too premature because it is just not happening in the current economic climate.
“When we started this project back in 2009, our belief was that they would be financially sound and able to stand alone, if not within a year then by the end of the first 24 months.
“That hasn’t happened and we have continued to go back to the old centralised system, a module that shocked the ICC when they found out we were financing the provinces and had over 99 cricketers, while others had at most 25 contracted players,’’ he said.
