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Sports Reporter
ZIFA yesterday failed to make an appearance before the Parliamentary portfolio committee on Education, Sport, Arts and Culture where they were expected to present oral evidence on the state of football in the country.The football association was supposed to appear on Thursday together with the Sports Commission and the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee but Zifa did not pitch up.
Yesterday some members of the committee turned up at the Parliament Building in the morning but no officials from Zifa came and the hearing was deferred.
The Portfolio Committee, chaired by Hurungwe West legislator Temba Mliswa, is now expected to write a second letter inviting the Zifa board to appear before them.
On Wednesday, the Sports Commission was tasked by the legislators to probe why Zifa had failed to appear and association’s spokesperson Xolisani Gwesela said they had not received any official communication from the parliamentarians.
Gwesela said he was not in a position to comment much but still insisted that they did not receive a letter inviting them to Parliament. “I do not know if the invite came to my superiors. We have a system here of signing for documents received and we have received nothing yet. We still awaiting the letter,” said Gwesela.
However, the Portfolio committee insisted that they, indeed, sent the first batch of letters to Zifa, SRC and ZOC.
“We have tracking system for mail deliveries and the first letter was dispatched to Zifa and that’s why they were supposed to appear first on Thursday before the SRC and ZOC.
“For today (yesterday) they might not have received it but we are going to write another letter again and failure to appear after a third invite will be in contempt of Parliament,” said a member of the portfolio committee.
While Zifa have been playing hide and seek with MPs, ZOC used the opportunity on Thursday to recommend that athletics be given priority over other sports as Zimbabwe stands a better chance of getting medals.
Online Reporter