Labour lawyer Zvimba fired

Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Professional Cricketers Association have decided to part ways with the Labour lawyer Eliah Zvimba who has represented them on industrial issues in the last year amid a flurry of allegations of foul play.

Zvimba has been playing an intermediary role between the players and the cricket board. But yesterday a statement from the ZPCA board that is chaired by Tamuka Mapfumo said Zvimba’s contract will not be renewed following the expiry of his one-year deal.

The players said they no longer have confidence in Zvimba as they felt he was no longer representing their best interests and was getting more involved in the politics of the Federation of International Cricketers Association, which is the umbrella body that co-ordinates the activities of all the national players’ associations that represent professional cricketers.

“The Zimbabwe Professional Cricketers Association board wishes to announce that the contract of their players’ representative Mr. Eliah Zvimba has expired and a unanimous decision has been made not to renew it forthwith.

“The reason behind this decision stems out of the realisation that he has not been representing them as expected. Mr. Zvimba has failed to avail himself at crucial times of players’ contract negotiations, despite the condition of his employment having been on a full time basis. “The Board is of the persuasion that it requires a players’ representative who is unequivocally accessible to champion the best interests of ZPCA and its players.

“The ZPCA Board has also realised that Mr. Zvimba has an unholy alliance with the Federation of International Cricketers Association (FICA), which has been paying him a monthly salary unbeknown to the players despite the fact that the players have been contributing towards his subsistence.

“Furthermore, Mr. Zvimba has not been transparent regarding his communication with FICA. Instead, Mr. Zvimba has been using the ZPCA as a vehicle to advance FICA’s political agenda whose purpose is to destroy and not to build, contrary to what ZPCA as an association seeks to achieve. “ZPCA aims to create a good rapport between the players and Zimbabwe Cricket in order to ensure the long-term security of the players who participate in the game of cricket.

“This being the case the ZPCA Board has decided that this relationship has become untenable. The ZPCA Board has been under a lot of pressure from FICA, which they are not a member of, to try and re-engage Mr. Zvimba because they trust him to further their interests.

“Proof of this is through numerous correspondences FICA has sent the ZPCA Board in a bid to solicit Mr. Zvimba’s continuation. The ZPCA is currently in the process of identifying a suitable candidate to assume the duties of a ZPCA players’ representative and an announcement will be made once the ideal candidate has been found,” read the statement.

However, FICA chief operating officer Ian Smith said their office was shocked to hear of the termination of Zvimba’s contract and has been trying to persuade ZPCA to reverse the decision. Smith has written to some senior players asking them to reconsider the move.

“Putting aside the ethics of firing someone by e-mail with no notice or explanation, there are also some very serious practical issues to address, such as the looming deadline for the signing of World Cup player terms and the considerable efforts of Zvimba, Andrew Breetzke (South Africa based lawyer) and FICA to protect your interests and negotiate a deal with ZC. I really need to understand better what your reasoning for this decision is and how, if at all, I can help,” wrote Smith in one of the e-mails.