ZIFA: Cuthbert Dube in a fix

Cuthbert Dube finds himself between a rock and a hard place. The Zifa president’s decision to save the nation’s blushes by offering his house as collateral after Pandhari Hotels had locked out the visiting Tanzanian national team last month looks set to back fire spectacularly on him.

Dube offered to sell one of his houses in the event that Zifa failed to settle the debt, believed to be over US$200 000, by June 30.

June 30 came and went last week with the local soccer governing body as broke as they were the day the Taifa Stars returned from an afternoon workout to locked rooms.

Pandhari Hotels had decided to go unorthodox, locking out the visitors as they sought to arm twist Zifa into paying the long-standing debt.

With Tanzania threatening to take the matter up with the Confederation of African Football, Dube offered his Mandara house as collateral during an emergency meeting convened at his Groombridge residence.

The Taifa Stars were eventually allowed access to the rooms and went on to put a hard day’s shift in drawing 2-2 with the Warriors and booking a place in the next round of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations campaign at the hosts’ expense.

Zifa suffered a net loss of US$49 503 in hosting the tie, as costs hit the US$102 794 mark while a total of US$53 291 was realised from ticket sales.

Among the major cost drivers were accommodation charges which chewed $32 806, camping and appearance fees which saw Ian “Dibango” Gorowa and his men sharing $19 470 among them and ground hire at $7 994.

The unimpressive financial statement further worsened the whole mess in Zifa’s coffers.

Pandhari Hotels last week became the first, among the association’s growing list of creditors, to make moves to recover their dues. The hospitality group’s lawyer Evans Moyo, of Scanlen and Holderness, last week wrote to Zifa “reminding” them of the agreement.

In a correspondence seen by this paper, Moyo notes that his clients are not keen on having Dube’s house auctioned, but would be left with no option if the soccer governing body does not play ball.

Pandhari officials confirmed the latest twist in their topsy turvy relationship with the association.

Zifa lawyer Ralph Manganga admit that they failed to meet the June 30 payment deadline.

“We saw their letter and yes it’s true that the money has not been paid and there is an explanation for it,” he said.

“We had promised to pay by June 30 because we thought we would have got the Fifa grant, but now they (Fifa) are saying they will channel the funds soon after the World Cup. That is the position and we will communicate it to Pandhari.

“Obviously the situation is precarious because Dr Dube used his personal property to serve the nation and it will be a sad day if that property were to be auctioned,”

In his presentation at last month’s football Indaba, called in the wake of the doomed Afcon campaign, Dube disclosed that Zifa’s debt stands at US$5 million.

The Zifa president claimed his association has crafted a “debt servicing strategy”, but did not give much detail.