The Sunday Mail
Langton Nyakwenda
THE Sport and Recreation Commission believe they have sufficient reasons to convince Fifa to come on board and disband the beleaguered Zifa board.
In their correspondence to Fifa secretary-general Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura last week, the sports regulatory body detailed Zifa’s alleged transgressions, which they feel warrants Fifa’s intervention.
SRC’s board chairman Gerald Mlothswa also told Fifa that Zifa has snubbed a request to provide them with a full report on the Warriors’ 2019 African Cup of Nations debacle.
In their dossier sent to Switzerland, the SRC want Felton Kamambo’s board disbanded, via a provision in Article (8) (2) of the General Provisions of the Fifa Statutes.
The letter read in part: “The present manner in which the game is being administered, particularly in regard to the men and women national teams, is no better than a badly managed circus.
“It is simply unacceptable that Fifa monies are diverted to a private company account, violating the banking and anti-money laundering laws of Zimbabwe, under the guise of avoiding creditors and court orders.
“You (Fifa) will readily agree that the contemptuous failure by Zifa to account for the use of Fifa funds as well as Zimbabwean tax payers’ monies is exceptionally astounding, and in terms of the SRC Act, unlawful.
“The SRC, subject to Fifa’s position on the matter, is prepared to proceed and suspend the entire Zifa board in terms of its own SRC ACT nonetheless, should this be the agreed position with yourselves.”
According to Mlotshwa, the SRC wrote to Zifa on July 3, 2019, asking the Association to provide detailed answers to the allegations, including the national football team’s participation at AFCON.
However, the football mother body has failed to respond adequately.
Zifa’s first response to the SRC came on July 11, 2019, through a letter written by the Association’s secretary-general, Joseph Mamutse.
“Please find here attached our provisional response to your letter dated 3 July 2019. We shall send to you our supplementary and detailed response on Monday 15 July 2019.
“Please note that the provisional response shall be read together with the supplementary response to be submitted on Monday,” wrote Mamutse.
Mamutse also sought clarification from SRC, asking whether the Commission’s communication meant that Zifa had conducted itself in a manner which is contrary to the national interest.
“Our understanding of the SRC Act is that it does not give the board powers to do investigations of that nature, according to Section 30. Neither does it allow the SRC board to invoke the section without preferring charges that must be responded to.
“Zifa is in the process of compiling its master report that will be furnished to Fifa, Caf and SRC, as is the norm after participation in any continental event,” read part of the letter.
However, in his second correspondence to the SRC, dated July 18, 2019, Mamutse informed the regulatory body that his earlier response was in fact sufficient.
“This serves to inform you that the response we submitted on Friday 12th of July 2019, regarding our Afcon participation, is complete.
“You will recall that during the submission of that letter, we had indicated that we may make follow up and supplementary communication to add on to the initial response.
“We have since realised that the response we sent to you is sufficient and requires no additional submission. We therefore now await the SRC to clarify on the enquiry we made in the initial response,” read Mamutse’s second letter to the SRC.
Last Friday night, the under-pressure Kamambo told Star FM that it is unfortunate that the SRC has chosen to take matters to Fifa before discussing with them. He insisted that dialogue between the two parties could solve the impasse.
Kamambo said he is confident that the rocky relationship between the Zifa leadership and the SRC is a phase that will soon pass when they give their full side of the story.
