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Sports Reporter
THE domestic football leadership is set to convene an Extraordinary General Meeting in Harare today in their quest to put their troubled ship back on course.
The agenda of the meeting includes issues around the forensic audit report conducted by a local firm and the extension of the tenure of the ZIFA Executive Committee and Congress.
The Executive Committee, led by Gift Banda, is also expected to present a report on developments that have taken place in the last few months.
The ZIFA board is facing a dilemma in their efforts to sort out the mess created by their predecessors as their tenure is set to end in two-months’ time, well before they could implement the recommendations made by the ZIFA Restructuring Committee that was set up by the Sports and Recreation Commission.
Apart from the danger of missing most of the timelines for football reforms, a constitutional crisis is also looming at the association.
As it stands, it is impossible for the current leadership, whose tenure ends in December, to organise elections, in line with their own statutes.
The current board came into office in December 2018 and their term runs until December. The ZIFA Congress is also expected to be out of office by then.
Faced with this puzzle, the association’s leadership, at their last board meeting, resolved to call an emergency meeting to push for the extension of the Congress’ mandate so that all the decisions to be carried after December would be legal and binding.
This also comes in the wake of a leaked draft forensic report which exposes a number of irregularities in the manner the executive committee, led by former ZIFA president Felton Kamambo, conducted their business at 53 Livingstone Avenue.
The forensic audit report, which also implicated some of the current board members, is likely to dominate the agenda, if it is discussed.
Thereafter, the troubled association is set to map the way forward. ZIFA are currently suspended by FIFA.
Both ZIFA and the Sports Commission are pushing for a quick resolution to the problems facing Zimbabwean football, and to expedite the readmission of the country into the FIFA family.
The local administration has had brushes with FIFA of late because of the challenges in governance and football administration.
Recently former referees’ secretary Obert Zhoya was fined and banned five years by FIFA after he was convicted in the charges of sexual harassment of female referees.
Sources also said corruption has bled the association in excess of US$2 million. The exact extent of the prejudice is yet to be established.
But a forensic audit carried out by a local firm, is now complete and the full report will be available in the coming days.
According to a leaked draft report that was conducted by BDO Chartered Accountants, the findings have revealed gross mismanagement in the way financial transactions were done.
The Sports Commission confirmed in a statement that there “are certainly very significant sums of money received by ZIFA that cannot be accounted for during the review period of 1st December, 2018 to 30th November, 2021.”
“The Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) has been made aware, from various media enquiries seeking its comment on the matter, that a DRAFT forensic audit report is circulating in the public domain.
“SRC’s wishes to advise the public that auditors contracted for the undertaking made separate presentations to the Restructuring Committee as well as the Commission of their detailed preliminary findings in respect of the financial affairs of ZIFA.
“There are certainly very significant sums of money received by ZIFA that cannot be accounted for during the review period of 1st December, 2018 to 30th November, 2021.
“The auditors have not signed off the forensic audit report. They will do so shortly. The ZIFA Audit report, once formally and procedurally presented to the restructuring committee that commissioned it, is ultimately intended for the benefit of the members of ZIFA to consider during their general meeting slated for the end of October, 2022.
“Accordingly, we advise stakeholders and the public alike to exercise reasonable caution in drawing any conclusions at this point based on an unofficial document,” said the Sports Commission.
Online Reporter