Rugby Union in financial mess

Just over a year after John Falkenberg took over the presidency, the ZRU has found itself in another financial mess that has attracted the attention of the IRB who have sent their representative Steph Nel to conduct a full audit on Zimbabwe rugby.

There are allegations that the ZRU is in a sorry state after the IRB turned down the union’s application for their annual grant amid revelations that the union’s workers are yet to receive their salaries for the past two months.

It is understood that there were irregularities in the ZRU’s application for their annual grant from the IRB and the world governing body raised questions over some of the issues that were stated in the document resulting in the withholding of the grant.

However, it is the poor state of ZRU administration that has drawn the attention of the IRB and union general manager Sifiso Made yesterday conceded that all was not well in the local rugby mother body.

“The way that the document (grant application) was drafted needed transparency and clear corporate governance so this raised an alarm with the IRB resulting in them not releasing the grant and sending an analyst to have a look at the situation in Zim rugby.
“This is another reason we have not been able to pay the union workers because we have not been able to generate enough funds for the union and we rely on the grant for administrative purposes.

“It is only until the grant comes in that we will be able to pay our workers but it is not definite when the grant will start coming in because they first have to be a report on the state of rugby affairs in Zimbabwe.

“Once the report is concluded, the IRB will send in the grant but they have indicated that the funds will not come in all at once but in batches,” said Made.
Nel’s audit will not only include the financial aspect of administration but also rugby operations, game development, human resources and corporate governance among other things.

The South Africa-based Western Province rugby institute manager and was also involved in the analysis and curatorship of the Namibia Rugby Union a few years ago when they faced financial and administrative challenges after the union failed to cope with the day-to-day running of the affairs of the game.

In 2011 Nel was put in temporary charge of the NRU administration to help the then beleagured union prepare for the World Cup.
The ZRU has since shifted base from their Harare Sports Club offices and are now based in Alexandria Park due to financial difficulties in coping with the rentals at Sports Club.
Such is the gloomy picture that ZRU office staff have not been reporting for duty for the last six weeks.

“At the moment Nel has been talking to the respective committee brands ranging from the women, Under-19 up to the Sables and he is expected to round up the meetings today (yesterday) and his assessment report will include everything that has to do with rugby from human resources, finances, operations, development and funding.
“He is very much keen on development and that is the way we want to go, how to achieve a better development rate, and how to work with the respective brands at the same level so that we have the common goals and move in the same direction,” Made said.

A few years ago the ZRU moved from a centralised game administration approach with the then general manager Grant Mitchell introducing a franchising system where there were committees that took charge of the respective brands.

Initially the motive was just for the brand committees to raise funds for their teams but their roles have since ballooned to taking charge of everything including the day-to-day running of the affairs of the brands – something the IRB is not happy about.

“In Zimbabwe we have the respective brands but it is unfortunate that they (IRB) do not recognise these brands and would like the union to be more responsible and get more involved in the running of the affairs of the game.

“Having met him yesterday (Monday), he (Nel) indicated that he advised that a centralised approach would be much better than the way we are running the respective franchises at the moment because there is a need for common goals.

“I also feel the same because there is too much information that individuals in the respective brands are holding on to and is not being passed on to the Union.
Made added that the reason the Union’s financial books are in shambles is that they paid off most of their debts last year, exhausting the coffers in anticipation that the grant would be approved early as in the past years.

“We paid a lot of money to the companies and individuals we owed last year and that is where the bulk of the money we got from the the grant we had received went to.
“Since (last) October the Union has been running from the pocket of John Falkenberg.

“But it has come to a point where he cannot continue doing so because he also has his own business to run and he has also recently restructured his company so we need to come clean with the IRB to get our things in order as we would like to qualify for the World Cup,” said Made.