Daily News
3 September 2010
HARARE – Sports minister David Coltart has ordered the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) to cut ties with non-sports actors such as the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), in the aftermath of the Brazil/Zimbabwe friendly match debacle, marked by allegations of shady commercial arrangements.
The minister’s letter, coming after spirited attempts by Harare businessman Phillip Chiyangwa to promote a high-profile international friendly between Zimbabwe and World Cup quarter finalists Ghana, effectively shuts out non-football agents from involvement in the game.
Zifa, still reeling from salacious allegations over the misappropriation of funds as caused by suspended chief executive Henrietta Rushwaya’s conduct and exposed by Kentaro’s cash demands after the ZTA-organised match, has been given a hand by Coltart’s intervention, as it seeks to clean up its act.
“I have raised similar concerns in the past with Zifa. The last Zifa board on a number of occasions sidelined the SRC (Sports and Recreation Commission), which was very unhealthy for sports,” Coltart told the Daily News.
“There was a very close relationship between Zifa and the ZTA, which I found unusual,” the feisty minister said.
Crucially, Coltart argues that Zifa needs to forge “closer ties” with associations such as the SRC instead of “loose alliances” with non-commissioned organisations like the ZTA and individual promoters, including Chiyangwa.
“I had deep concerns about the way Zifa was run. In this regard, I wrote to Mr (Cuthbert) Dube (Zifa board president) to say we need to have a special indaba to look into the financing of football. Zifa have replied, saying they are happy to have a preliminary meeting with us. I hope this will open a new chapter in our relationship with Zifa,” he said.
Kentaro, a Switzerland-based sports management firm also representing Brazil’s Samba Boys, worked with the government in staging the historic match, but it is now threatening to sue Zifa over unpaid “gate takings” and television rights revenue totaling US$650 000.
While Dube claimed he had not seen Coltart’s letter, attempts to secure Karikoga Kaseke on the latest development were fruitless.As Coltart and Dube’s new board rails at Rushwaya, and Kaseke’s ZTA, other regulatory bodies such as the Public Works ministry and SRC are also coming hard on the beleaguered football governing body with demands for unpaid dues.
In a July 28 letter, George Mlilo, the Public Works permanent secretary, issued a “formal demand” to his Tourism and Hospitality counterpart Sylvester Maunganidze for a US$10 000 stadium hire fee, while the SRC is also baying for its mandatory six percent of gate takings from the match.
In the dispatch, sources said, the SRC quotes a figure of US$650 000 as total revenue from the match.
While the new Zifa board is distancing itself from the June 2 Brazil-Warriors fiasco and Kaseke’s ZTA is accusing Kentaro of tampering with the “final contract” over match rights, the flurry of demand letters and Zifa’s inability to pay the SRC funds, for instance, also strengthens fears of the mishandling of such by the characters involved.
Also on July 28, Dube’s board told Kentaro by letter that Rushwaya did not represent Zifa when she entered into the controversy-ridden contract with them.