The Sunday Mail
Deputy Sports Editor
THE National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Sport and Recreation Commission (SRC) have teamed up to try and weed out corrupt practices that have tainted the image of the country and slowed development programmes.
It has also emerged that the two entities have resolved to work closely with the International Cricket Council in the wake of the high-profile corruption case that resulted in former Zimbabwe captain and coach Heath Streak being banned for eight years.
The NPA and SRC have also widened their scope beyond just corruption in cricket and probing cases of suspected corruption in football.
Streak was last week handed an eight-year ban for corruption by the ICC, in a case that shook both the domestic and international cricket with the SRC later seeking advice from the NPA on the matter.
The NPA, however hinted that they would not rush into making a separate prosecution of Streak as they were liaising with the ICC experts on the case.
Prosecutor General Kumbirai Hodzi told Sunday Mail Sport, in a statement yesterday, that they had sealed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Sports Commission which had resulted in his authority creating a special desk that will assess integrity cases and any questionable dealings that may involve graft in sport.
“The Sport and Recreational Commission have seriously engaged the Prosecutor General, and its sister law enforcement agencies, to comprehensively address the issue of criminal conduct and corruption in the area of Arts, Recreation and Sport,” read the statement.
“The SRC and the NPA have recently concluded a MOU for cooperation and action to ensure that proper discipline and integrity is restored in this area by fighting all forms of corruption in Sports and Arts.
Read more on www.sundaymail.co.zw
“The MOU is currently being vetted by the Attorney-General. In the area of Sport, the PG has indeed received representations from the SRC Chair (Gerald Mlotshwa) concerning a number of cases in Sports, more specifically the ZIFA cases and criminal malpractices in cricket.
“To address this important area, the NPA has created a Special Desk tasked to prosecute crimes in Sports and the Arts.
“The SRC and PG’s Office, together with relevant agencies, will strengthen the investigation and prosecution of sports corruption and crime,” Hodzi said.
He said his office would not deal with the Streak issue in the public arena.
“The PG’s office and the SRC, are in liaison, and will not want to compromise the status of ongoing investigations by detailed comments save to say they are seized with the issue of corruption in Sport,’’ said Hodzi.
