Dube offers house, saves Zifa blushes

01 Jun, 2014 - 00:06 0 Views
Dube offers house, saves Zifa blushes Cuthbert Dube

The Sunday Mail

Cuthbert Dube

Cuthbert Dube

Cuthbert Dube offered one of his houses as surety Friday night as the Zifa president battled to save face following Pandhari Hotels’ decision to lock out the visiting Tanzanian national soccer team. Zimbabwean football hit another low on Friday when the Taifa Stars returned from their afternoon workout to find their rooms fitted with key blockers.

The embarrassing incident saw the Taifa Stars turning to their country’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe Adadi Rajabu for assistance.
There was, and still is, a feeling within the visitors’ ranks that the episode was part of Zimbabwe’s dirty tactics ahead of this afternoon’s 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the National Sports Stadium.

However, The Sunday Mail has it on good authority that the charade was triggered by Pandhari Hotels’ decision to take a “firmer stance” against a soccer governing body that owes them a “substantial amount of money.”
Sources at Zifa put the figure at over US$200 000.

A worker at Pandhari disclosed that the group’s management decided to take the unorthodox route after a series of broken promises from 53 Livingstone Avenue as well as their failure to get any joy from engaging the Sports and Recreation Commission.
“Zifa, especially their chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze, always make promises they don’t fulfil.

“Last week the Zambian women’s national team stayed at the hotel and empty promises were made . . . the same trend was about to repeat itself with the Tanzanian national team, hence management decided that enough is enough.

“First, management tried to engage the Sports Commission, but one of their officials, a Hamadziripi, said they are not aware of the Zifa debt.
“That response forced us to act in the manner that we did,” said the worker.

A seething Tanzanian delegation is understood to have made attempts to take the matter up with the Confederation African Football, as hours passed without a solution in sight late on Friday.

With events unfolding at a worrying pace, an emergency meeting was convened at Dube’s Groombridge residence.
The meeting, between Dube and management of Pandhari Hotels, ended with the Zifa president undertaking to sell his Mandara house if the debt is not settled within 30 days.

Pandhari Hotels’ lawyer Evans Moyo of Scanlen and Holderness confirmed the arrangement.
“We held a cordial meeting with Zifa and the association undertook to settle their dues with us, with Mr Dube acting as the guarantor.
“Zifa pledged to settle the debt within 30 days and our client was agreeable to that proposal. As soon as that agreement was reached,

Tanzania were allowed access to the rooms and they will be accommodated there until the day they are expected to leave,” he said.
It emerged last night that Zifa has over the past fortnight been unsuccessfully making frantic efforts to get a Government bailout.

A Zifa official disclosed that Friday’s incident as well as the national soccer governing body’s massive debt, believed to be over US$5 million, dominated yesterday’s board meeting at the Zifa Village.

Dube is also reported to have told the meeting that he cannot continue to bail out the association from his personal coffers.
“We find ourselves between a rock and a very hard place . . . there is little room to manoeuver financially and our situation has not been helped either by the fact that we get little Government support.

“The (president) says he cannot continue giving Zifa financial assistance and we all agree . . . it’s unhealthy and against good corporate governance practices,” said a Zifa board member who attended yesterday’s meeting.

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