The Sunday Mail
Makomborero Mutimukulu Sports Editor
THE Zifa accounts from the Warriors versus Guinea Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at Rufaro early this month were doctored at the instruction of board member Fungai Chihuri, a Zifa accounting officer sensationally claimed last night. Zifa accountant Fabion Vanganai said he had decided to speak out to safeguard his professional reputation from the slimy, unfolding financial scandal.
“Look I know this will have repercussions in terms of my job at Zifa but you know what accounting is a noble profession, your reputation is everything. There is no way I could just keep quiet,” he said.
“The accounts that Zifa published after the Guinea game are a fraud at best. Accounting principles were thrown through the window to serve the selfish interests of a few individuals.
“The initial accounts I saw and was to align using excel showed that Chihuri signed for $ 4000 while $9 881 went to paying Zifa staff salary arrears. They showed a profit of just over a thousand dollars before the deduction of airfares that were paid for by a local businessman. “However, as I was aligning the accounts the operations manager Joseph Mamutse came into my office while on the phone with Chihuri.
“Mamutse said Chihuri had ordered that the $ 4000 he (Chihuri) signed for and the $ 9 881 should not be reflected in the accounts because it would cause Zifa some problems. “I flatly refused to do such an unethical thing and Chihuri took the matter up with my boss and Zifa finance manager Benjamin Dehwa who also said no.
“At the end the accounts were taken to the chief executive’s office where I suspect all the doctoring took place.” Interestingly the $4000 and the $9 881 deductions were not captured in the accounts Zifa presented to the nation.However, these figures are contained in accounts the soccer governing body presented to the Sports and Recreation Commission for auditing.
In the initial accounts, which have since been removed from the Zifa website, the association claims to have paid $ 12, 500 towards the airfares of foreign based players. However, it has since emerged that the tickets cost $11 091 and the Harare businessman who bailed out Zifa is yet to be repaid.
“It’s all a joke and a professional like I, who is reading for a masters cannot be silent when such things are taking place right under your nose,” said Vanganai. “Just like the majority of Zimbabweans I love football and would love to see the game thriving but this cannot happen if such comical things are done with such sensitive stuff like finances.
“The biggest problem I have noted is that everything revolves around Mashingaidze. He is the one who ordered us not to hand over accounts to the finance committee that was headed by (Bernard) Gwarada. He said anyone who handed over the information was an enemy of football.”
Gwarada a Harare travel agent who headed a finance committee that comprised of Webster Chikengezha, Joseph Musariri, Washington Mehlomakulu and Eric Mvududu was suspended under controversial circumstances.
Chihuri is the acting finance committee chair and it is with that hat he is said to have gone into the finance room at Rufaro on September 2 and signed for $4000 as board expenses. Three Zifa board members Twine Phiri, Tawengwa Hara and John Phiri have confirmed they were paid $ 400 each in line with a board resolution two days before the game. What happened to the rest of the $4000 Chihuri signed for is mystery.
Zifa officials refused to comment on the latest development but last weekend association president Cuthbert Dube vowed to deal ruthlessly with officials found to have embezzled funds.
