Sithole hits out at ousted Kamambo

21 Oct, 2022 - 18:10 0 Views
Sithole hits out at ousted Kamambo

The Sunday Mail

Sports Reporter

INTERNATIONAL sports administrator, Tommy Sithole has dismissed claims by recalled ZIFA president, Felton Kamambo and his colleagues, who had sought to drag his name in the madness that has followed a leaked draft forensic audit report of the troubled football association.

The unsigned report, compiled by chartered accounting firm, BDO Zimbabwe has found its way onto various social media platforms and also had its excerpts quoted in the mainstream media.

Although it is still a draft, and for which the Sports and Recreation Commission Zimbabwe (SRC) have declined to discuss much about, the draft report has sparked huge interest in domestic football circles after it unearthed huge incidents of financial impropriety by the Kamambo leadership.

Sithole is a member of the ZIFA restructuring Committee that has been tasked with coming up with recommendations on reforming the country’s troubled flagship sport association.

The veteran sports administrator is also chairperson of the Zimpapers board.

On Friday, he rubbished a press statement issued on Thursday by lawyers representing the ousted Felton Kamambo and his colleagues, Philemon Machana, Bryton Malandule, Stanley Chapeta and ex-chief executive officer, Joseph Mamutse.

The statement from the ousted ZIFA executives read in part:

“We act for our clients Messrs F. Kamambo, P. Machana, S. Chapeta, B. Malandule and J. Mamutse all who are on suspension from the SRC, that a purported unsigned draft forensic audit report on ZIFA’s financial transcations is circulating in various media spaces especially on social media.

“Our clients have seen numerous media reports, mainly from known state media critics such as from the Chronicle and The Herald both under the Zimpapers stable chaired by Tommy Sithole, who is also deputy chair of the ZIFA Restructuring Committee and have also had sight of the so-called draft forensic report purportedly originating from BDO Zimbabwe.

“Furthermore, our clients have had sight of the SRC press statement regarding the same,’’ wrote Rubaya and Chatambudza Legal Practitioners.

In his response issued from South Korea, where he is attending the Association of National Olympic Committees elective assembly, Sithole branded the ousted ZIFA executives, a bunch of cowards, who also did not take time to establish true facts.

This is because the former Zimbabwe Olympic Committee president is not a vice-chairman of the ZIFA Restructuring Committee, as claimed by Kamambo and his crew and neither was he involved with the forensic report nor its distribution to the media.

“I’m in Seoul, South Korea at the moment where I am attending the elective general assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC),” he said in a statement.

“1 have been made aware about a statement purported to have been issued by a law firm associating me with the leaked BDO report on ZIFA forensic audit.

“First they should get their simple facts right. The Restructuring Committee does NOT have a vice chairman. I am just one of members of the committee, full stop.

“The statement associates me with the leak, ostensibly because I am also chairman of Zimpapers.

“The only name associated with the leak and therefore more than an insinuation that I may have had something to do with it is but a daft, unamusing proposal that is certainly not appreciated.

“Since the allegations that are said to be contained in the leaked report are, to a layman like me, borders on the prosecutable I absolutely dare those accusing me of being associated with the leak to sue me or forever hold their cowardly peace. I know they are cowards.

“Let it be understood and known that as I draft this response I have NOT read the BDO report and that I don’t know what it contains.

“If those who have purportedly been mentioned in the report feel maligned them and felt so strongly as to rush off to their lawyers, they are free to seek recourse of the courts.”

The SRC confirmed there was a draft report circulating, but urged stakeholders and the public alike “to exercise reasonable caution in drawing any conclusions at this point based on an unofficial document.”

ZIFA have, however indicated through a notice of their forthcoming extraordinary general meeting (EGM) that they will discuss the forensic audit report.

The association’s top-policy making body, the Congress, will converge in Harare on October 29, and the audit report is among the key agenda items on the table.

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