Ntutha not moved by resignations

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter

REINSTATED Zifa Bulawayo Province chairman Francis Ntutha says he is totally unmoved by the resignation of all but one of the board members, saying in any event his office has not received any of the members’ resignation letters.

Ntutha also made sensational claims that two of the four members that resigned were bitter at being classified as unfit to be in custody of public finances by banks.

He said the Financial Clearing Bureau (FCB) said two members were unsuitable candidates to be entrusted with public finances and only he and one member, who also resigned, were given the green light to be signatories.

In another sensational claim, Ntutha said the money he had been suspended for also involved Otrick Siziba, who appended his signature and was fully aware of the reason for withdrawal of the funds.

“What happened is when these guys got into office, most of them wanted to be signatories to the association’s funds because of the misconception that there is money at Zifa. However, after completing the forms, they hit a brick wall at the bank after being found not in good standing to take charge of public finances. It’s a credibility test by the Financial Clearing Bureau (FCB) and all those who sprinted to the bank to be signatories failed except myself and Siziba,” Ntutha told Chronicle Sport.

He said his suspension had more to do with personality clashes than anything and in any event that move was never rectified by the electorate as required by law.

“They suspended me and wrote to the national executive who waited for the province to formally lay charges for me to go for a hearing, but there was nothing until a year passed.

“So the national executive said they cannot continue like this without any action being done, one year down the line because at the end it will appear as if the problem is with them (national executive). If the province had issues they should have laid charges and informed the national guys that they want to conduct a hearing against me. Instead they just enjoyed being in charge albeit in an acting capacity. This whole thing was and is a misnomer; it’s only that I didn’t want to raise unnecessary noise,” said Ntutha.

He said his suspension should have been endorsed by the electorate and the whole process was a legal nullity since none of that happened.

When teams met at the mid-year meeting, Ntutha claimed they demanded to know where the chairman was and interrogated the executive committee why it took a provincial matter to Harare without first consulting them.

“Some of the clubs actually phoned me soon after my reinstatement saying they went through hell in the past season. The irony is that the said money was actually signed for by two people, me and Siziba, who surprisingly also resigned with the rest of the committee. So clubs said the chairman has no case to answer here because if he had any, he was supposed to be suspended together with the other board member who signed. So it’s clear that this case has nothing to do with money, but just personal wars,” said Ntutha.