Audit to take centre stage at Zifa EGM

Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Football Association forensic audit report is expected to headline the football mother body’s extraordinary general meeting set for 29 October.

At a meeting held on Friday in Harare, the Zifa executive committee resolved to call for an EGM where they will present their report, the Zifa executive committee and Congress tenure as well as the forensic audit.

In a statement, Zifa said the association’s leadership deliberated on improving the standards of refereeing in the country. The referees committee got recognition for their efforts to improve the standards through capacity development programmes for referees, commissioners and referee assessors.

However, it is the damning findings of the preliminary Zifa forensic audit that has necessitated calling of the EGM, with sources saying it has already identified financial leakages totalling almost US$2 million and over ZWL$100 million. The loss of revenue is from selected areas, giving the impression that a full-scale audit would unearth even more rot.

The partial audit on the operations of the country’s biggest sporting association covers the period between December 1, 2018 and November 21, 2021.

Impeccable sources revealed that BDO Zimbabwe Chartered Accountants, acting on the instruction of the Zifa restructuring committee concluded a five-month long investigation at the end of September.

Zifa members will also get to know how the US$1,8m that came from Fifa and Caf as solidarity grant for resumption of competitions after Covid-19 was used. Referees and coaches are on record saying they were not paid their Covid-19 allowances.

Zifa restructuring committee chairperson Blessing Rugara said: “We will offer our comments and recommendations to the SRC once we have been able to study the final report.” — Follow on Twitter @ZililoR