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Senior Court Reporter
FORMER ZIFA executives led by Felton Kamambo yesterday received the prosecution documents to prepare for their trial on charges of abusing the football association’s letterheads in a trial now set for January 3 next year at the Harare Magistrates Court.
Kamambo is jointly appearing with Joseph Mamutse, Brighton Malandule, Philemon Machana and Stanley Chapeta on fraud charges.
The charges revolve around the five continuing to write letters on Zifa letterheads and purporting to be on the Zifa executive committee after their suspension.
Yesterday, the five, who were represented by lawyer Mr Malvern Mapako, were furnished with the documents when they appeared before regional magistrate Mr Stanford Mambanje.
They had complained that the State was “playing hide and seek” each time they asked for the documents to prepare for their trial. But Mr Oscar Madhume, appearing for the State, then furnished the five with the documents saying they were readily available.
Allegations facing the five are that on November 16 2021, the Sports and Recreation Commission suspended the entire ZIFA executive committee for alleged gross incompetence and misappropriating funds.
The consequence of the suspension of the executive committee was that they had no authority to transact any business on behalf of ZIFA, whether verbally or in writing, according to the ZRC.
After the suspension, and during the period between January and February this year, the five allegedly wrote letters on ZIFA letterheads purporting to be ZIFA executive committee members.
The letters were allegedly signed by Mamutse, who also purported to be the ZIFA chief executive officer.
It is alleged that the letters were addressed to members of the ZIFA congress, suspending them from their positions.
As a result of these letters of suspension by the five, members of the ZIFA congress were allegedly incapacitated and unable to execute their tasks on behalf of the association. The court heard that Kamambo and his team’s actions affected sponsorship of football clubs in the country, especially those in the Premier Soccer League.
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