The Sunday Mail
Petros Kausiyo
Sports Editor
ZIMBABWE Rugby Union president Aaron Jani has broken his silence over the saga that led to his executive severing ties with Peter de Villiers.
He has also ruled out the reinstatement of the former Springbok coach despite a desperate bid for such a move by some former Sables players.
Jani also revealed that his union is targeting the Sables’ qualification for the 2023 World Cup and have been pulling all the stops to ensure that the next generation of the senior team is ready for the challenge.
This comes after the doomed campaign in 2018 when De Villiers’ men saw their bid to qualify for the 2019 Rugby World Cup go up in smoke. Instead, the highly-rated former South Africa coach ended up having to face the ignominy of watching his Sables fight to avoid relegation from the Africa Gold Cup, which could have further complicated matters for Zimbabwe.
De Villiers’ has undergone an acrimonious divorce with the ZRU. The coach has accused Jani and his leadership of being “heartless’’ in the way they handled his absence from work on compassionate grounds. The veteran coach took to social media to rally national and international support. He posted pictures in which he was sleeping on a hospital floor next to his cancer-stricken daughter. However, it has since emerged that contrary to claims that the ZRU had not supported De Villiers during his trying times, the coach had been given extended time off his duties. But along the way, the coach transgressed the labour law lines.
Jani, a media-shy executive who played international rugby for Zimbabwe, also leapt to the defence of one of his deputies, Losson Mtongwiza. De Villiers had singled out Mtongwiza, alleging that he interfered with his dressing room. More importantly, however, is the fact that Jani, himself a cancer patient, is understood to have been one of the most supportive of De Villiers during his plight. The ZRU president also lost his father to bowl cancer seven years ago. “On the PDV issue, there was a lot of misinformation for which I think the record needs to be set straight. PDV requested and was given annual leave for the month of October before he had even completed his 12 months’ service.
“We were expecting him to start work in November. Come November, we started communicating with him directly via email . We asked when he would return to start the off season training plan. To our surprise, the responses were returned via the agent.
“He never at any one time phoned, WhatsApped or telephoned me nor the CEO to inform us that he had a situation with his daughter. Eventually, this was communicated to us again via the agent, with a request for additional leave. “As the coach alluded to, I am a cancer survivor myself. My father passed on seven years ago after suffering from bowl cancer. I personally cared for him.
“Cancer treatment is very expensive. So I understood the gravity of the situation and I immediately authorised an additional 12 days’ compassionate leave,’’ Jani said. However, De Villiers’ hide and seek game with the ZRU eventually triggered a sensational fall-out with his employers.
“When the 12 days lapsed, the CEO got in touch with him again to request for the opportune dates for him to return. He requested to return on the 23rd. Again I obliged without reservation. This was now an additional 11.
“A ticket was booked on his preferred day and times. When the CEO arrived at the airport, the coach was a no-show. He then again, through his agent, indicated that there was another situation with his wife so he couldn’t travel.
“We wrote a letter to him, informing him that we could not afford to authorise additional leave for him as we had a mandate to prepare the team for the Gold Cup. He had not seconded anybody to assist in his absence so we invited him to come so that we could map the way forward. “Instead, he insisted that we must come to Cape Town to see him.
I could not do that because of my business commitments. “So for more than three months we never saw the coach in Zimbabwe.’’ The ZRU has since named De Villiers’ former assistant Brendan Dawson as interim coach.
Jani said the ZRU has sought legal advice on their matter with the gaffer.
“We consulted our legal department who then recommended that we suspend him and set up a disciplinary committee to handle the issue. We had no coach, no back up plan from the coach and we were basically being held to ransom as we could not appoint a new coach.
“The coach was absent without official leave. When the hearing started, as per basic legal practice, proof for the hospital stay and diagnosis was requested by the committee. Such documents must have signatures, stamps, etc; this is what was requested by the committee.
“It’s normal in a disciplinary process, not that we doubted his daughter situation. After a thorough and exhaustive process, a decision was made to relieve him of his duties. That decision was final.
“When PDV came to Zimbabwe, he had very little time to assemble the squad. VP North (Mtongwiza) was helping him settle in and he also helped him in identifying some players for camp since we had no active Director of Rugby at the time. “For all the games, PDV selected all the players himself. He would never accept players selected elsewhere.
“Despite being former players, we are not technical people, we are administrators. That is what we do. We also have very good relationships with the Ministry (of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation) and the SRC. They continuosly keep close eyes on us. They guide, encourage and advise us.
“We are very grateful for the role they play in building sport in Zimbabwe.
“When they request for reports on our funds, we give them. There is a misconception that money goes to allowances. We have bills for the medical kit, medical cover, the kit, accommodation and meals. The money is never enough.
“Personally, ZRU has never paid for my travel or accommodation. We actually sponsor the union. Our books are open.
Jani said the ZRU board has put in place a team to look at its financial books.
“We expect the full report to be tabled at our board meeting on Sunday. We have checks and balances and this helps to maintain good corporate governance,’’ he said.
