adminRobson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
ZIMBABWE’S referees were levied a whopping US$1 million by ZIFA last year, through the association’s Referee’s Committee, amid stunning revelations that a huge chunk of that money could have filtered into the pockets of officials and cannot be accounted for.
Exactly US$1 092 446 was generated from the country’s referees, from the Fifa accredited to the lowly Class IV match officials, last year alone by the country’s football governing body, which surprisingly has been sending the picture that it is on the verge of financial ruin, through its arm in charge of the match officials.
The money was raised through affiliation and course fees for the referees.
Twenty three courses for the referees were held last year and a staggering US$901 840 was paid by the match officals for them to attend these courses in the past 12 months.
A further US$190 608 was paid by the country’s referees last year in affiliation fees alone into the ZIFA Referees Committee and that brought the total of what they paid, in just the past 12 months alone, to US$1 092 446.
Given that such courses are held annually and the referees have also been paying affiliation fees every year, it means that the match officials have been contributing a big chunk of income into the coffers of the association and its arms.
The problem is that the audited financial statements that ZIFA released for 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 do not reflect this income that comes from referees even though it’s a substantial amount.
This has given rise to fears that a lot of the money that the referees have been injecting into the coffers of the ZIFA Referees Committee could have filtered into the pockets of the game’s officials.
Documents have been leaked to The Herald by people in the game who fear that a calculated money-making racket could have been underway, in the past few years, with the game’s officials abusing the referees for their selfish ends.
Last week this newspaper exposed the way local coaches were being ripped off by ZIFA who were using the CAF Licence Coaching Badges as cover for their exploitation of the coaches. We revealed that local coaches pay the highest fees, on the continent, just to get a CAF Licence Coaching Badge, paying as much as six times what their counterparts in Ghana pay for a similar CAF A Licence Coaching Badge.
The local coaches also pay three times what their colleagues in Botswana pay for a CAF B Licence Coaching Badge.
The Botswana coaches still feel that what they are paying is outrageous and last month took their association to task for charging them 2 000 pula for a CAF B Licence Coaching Badge.
The 2 000 pula, about US$200, for a CAF B Licence Coaching Badge, is a third of the US$600 that Zimbabwean coaches have been paying for a similar qualification.
In the past few days The Herald has been informed that the referees’ courses have become a lucrative industry for some football officials in this country in the past few years and there have been some rich pickings in terms of money earned.
This is the reason why there have been some intense fights and resistance, whenever suggestions have been made, that there should be a change of leadership of those who are in charge of the referees.
“It’s a closed shop because there is a lot of money that is being generated from there,” sources told The Herald.
“When you look at it, on face value, it is all noble because you have to train the referees and the more courses that you have the better job you are doing in terms of development.
“So all the referees are whipped into line that they have to be part of the courses and they have to pay a certain amount for that even when they are put into some funny lodgings for their courses.
“The Class IV referees pay US$50 for a course and that doesn’t look like a lot of money until you realise that there are 1 200 referees involved and they have to do four courses per year.
“That on its own raises US$240 000 as of last year alone and that is a lot of money especially when you consider that some of these referees no one cares about them and might never rise from where they are.
“But the big issue is that there is no accountability even when you see that they are big amounts involved, about a million dollars, and you don’t see this money being reflected in the income figures of the association.
“It has become something like a money making venture and no one asks questions about where that money is going and how it was used.
“The ZIFA Referees Committee doesn’t have a treasurer even up to this day and no one cares even when the figures involved are huge sums of public money and it should all be accounted for at the end of the year.
“The FIFA courses, there is a reimbursement that is done and no one knows where that money goes too.”
Online Reporter