adminRicky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
ZIFA employees have rubbished reports that they vanished with $23,000 from gate takings realised from the Warriors’ 2017 Africa Cup of Nations win over Malawi in Harare on Sunday.
The association’s finance manager Benjamin Dewa and competitions manager Weston Mabhande dismissed claims that they went with the money, saying Zifa board member Philemon Machana knew the person who went with the cash.
“It’s very unfair that people will just accuse us of running away with the money. I never went with the money. The person who was with the money had an exam on Monday morning and that’s why the money was delivered late. Reconciliation after the game finished late and there was no bank which was opened. That story has tarnished my image because since when have we started paying ourselves without authorisation?” said Dewa.
He declined to reveal the name of the person who was writing exams on Monday.
The Warriors-Malawi game had about 28,500 people paying to watch the game at the National Sports Stadium, grossing $168,000, of which the bulk of the money went to players and service providers.
Sources had alleged that Zifa employees panicked and decided to pay themselves some of their outstanding allowances after hearing that Zifa had been dissolved and replaced by the National Football Association of Zimbabwe at an extraordinary general meeting on Saturday.
According to the sources, Zifa owes its employees up to 20 months in salary arrears and following the decision to declare the association insolvent, workers fear they will not be paid their dues.
Mabhande refuted the allegations and said he is just a competitions manager and if he was to take money, it would have been recorded.
“The office that I hold doesn’t deal with cash. The only money I would have taken would be to pay the national team. I’ll not have my name tarnished like this. The board member who heads the finance committee (Machana) was there and the question that you should be asking is why wasn’t that huge amount of money not sent via the CIT (cash in transit) which Zifa had paid for? I’m clear in all this. Machana and members of the finance committee Bryton Malandule of the Southern Region and W Muzara of Gweru, who were there, are aware that we’re clean,” said Mabhande.
Machana revealed on Monday that they paid about $2,000 for the CIT.
He also confirmed that $23,000 was taken after Sunday’s match, but said the matter had since been resolved.
derick.khumalo