ZRU document raises eyebrows

Paul Munyuki Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Rugby Union are back in the eye of the storm after courting controversy following damning allegations that one of their legal documents was premised on information plagiarised from a South African Rugby Union paper.The document appears to suggest that ZRU do not fall under Zimbabwean law but are guided by South African law.

The ZRU engaged David Crouch as their consultant with the Harare marketing man tasked with luring big corporate partners for the local rugby mother body.

Crouch is also in charge of the media department.

But it has emerged that the document which Crouch used to guide ZRU’s relations with the media had its contents literary “lifted” from the one designed for SARU.

Ironically, Crouch’s appointment as ZRU media and marketing consultant had earlier raised questions within the union’s administrative corridors with some expressing reservations about the move.

However, it is the allegations that the ZRU’s consultant allegedly plagiarised a document from their South African counterparts, which could leave the union led by John Falkenberg, with egg on the face.

The document, which is on the ZRU letterhead, seems to imply that the ZRU does not fall under the judicial governance of the Government of Zimbabwe and instead suggests that the union falls under the South African government.

A closer analysis of the paper also reveals that Crouch merely changed the acronyms but retained the business plan on how they intend to work with the media. SARU, just like all professionally-run sporting associations, value the role of the media for their operations and viability.

And yesterday SARU general manager in charge of communications, Andy Colquhoun, distanced himself and his association from supplying the ZRU “or anyone for that matter with the document’’.

“Our legal documents are just meant for us and the partner we would have reached an agreement or gone into a contract with because we have certain regulations that guide us in terms of how we handle such documents.

“Thing like contracts or agreements we enter into with certain individuals are binding and are only for SARU and our partners, these remain private.

“Then there are some documents that are in the public like our constitution, representatives at youth level and safety which are meant for the public and these we can share with anyone because they are meant to educate the public.

“We have not shared any of our documents with anyone and it looks here that someone might have used our document and forgot to remove our name,” said Colquhoun.

The four-page document details how Crouch — as the ZRU media consultant — intends to work with the media in this weekend’s Zimbabwe international Sevens invitational tournament that has drawn the likes of Russia, Hong Kong, Georgia, South Africa and Zambia.

But while Crouch removed the SARU acronym on the first page, but it appears that in the last part of the document the words “South Africa” skipped his attention in Section 15.

Reads Section 15 of the document: “These terms and conditions are governed by, and are to be interpreted in accordance with, the laws of South Africa.

“The pass holder and principal irrevocably agree that the courts of South Africa will (except as expressed below) have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute which may arise in connection with these terms and conditions.”

The document was circulated last Friday and Crouch realised his “mistake” two days later and sent an “amended” document.
Just a few weeks ago the ZRU found themselves mired in controversy following claims of racism that were followed by the resignation of Sables team manager Losson Mtongwiza who also questioned Crouch’s credentials.