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Board members raise alarm

Crisis at ZIFA exposed in memo

Jonathan Mashingaidze

Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
AN explosive memorandum by some concerned ZIFA board members to their presidium has exposed the rot that has crept into a national organisation they claim is being weighed down by poor governance systems, lack of transparency and serious divisions within its leadership.

The memorandum was sent to ZIFA president Cuthbert Dube and his deputy, Omega Sibanda, last week and comes at a time when the beleaguered association is under the spotlight with the way the game is being administered at the heart of a meeting between Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Andrew Langa and the Sports Commission leadership in Harare yesterday.

The ZIFA board members, who sent the memorandum, claim the country’s national football leadership has been split into camps and noted, “with growing concern, the poor governance, lack of transparency, lack of unity of purpose and double standards that prevail in the running of the ZIFA board.”

They claimed that a number of board members had been reduced into mere stooges, since they were elected into office in March last year, and were being sidelined from everything related to the administration of the game.

ZIFA chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze, claimed the board members, had been allowed by the presidium to usurp the powers of the board and dress himself in their robes without their approval, and to “freely manipulate football statues to settle undeclared, and often imagined, personal vendettas against board members.”

Crucial meetings, said the board members, had been cancelled without due notice and the ZIFA board had become such a dysfunctional unit it has left the stage open for Mashingaidze to operate as a de-facto chairman of the association with disastrous consequences for the game.

The ZIFA board members noted that:

Since our election into office we have noted with growing concern the poor governance, lack of transparency, lack of unity of purpose and double standards that prevail in the running of the ZIFA Board.

We are concerned that we have, as a board, failed to be true custodians of football because as our leaders, you have allowed rumours and gossip to guide your interactions with us as board members.

Our supervisory and policy setting roles as board members have been eroded as you have allowed the CEO to operate as the de-facto executive chairman of the board. The few times we have tried to query certain issues we read about in the media we are branded “enemies of football.” The appointment of the technical director, national team coaches and the management of coaching courses are examples.

We find the obtaining scenario where you announce major policy developments without as much as just advising us as board members, where the ZIFA CEO and Communications Officer speak on behalf of the board without conferring with us as board members to be at variance with globally accepted corporate governance norms. Additionally, the practice is not procedural as it goes against the very spirit of the Beautiful Game and is detrimental to football development in Zimbabwe.

We are concerned that the ZIFA CEO has been allowed to usurp the powers of the board and run ZIFA on our behalf without our consent. We have a situation where the ZIFA CEO is a football law unto himself, allowed to freely manipulate football statues to settle undeclared, and often imagined personal vendettas, against board members.

As board members we have been systematically denied the chance to utilise the skills and expertise that we possess that those who voted us into office believed could benefit the game. This is being done through misinterpretations of football statutes by the ZIFA CEO, unfortunately with your concurrence.

We are concerned about the competency and commitment of the ZIFA secretariat. As board members we doubt the suitability of our secretariat to execute their duties. From our interactions, we have noted that the entire ZIFA secretariat does not appear to understand and respect the role of board members. From their conduct, it appears their brief is to frustrate and demean us as board members.

We are worried that, as board members, we have been denied the opportunity to execute our mandate fully with the support of the ZIFA secretariat. Instead, the ZIFA CEO has his preferred board members who he routinely requests to represent the ZIFA board. This is being done to create the impression that some board members are not committed to football activities but just want the privileges that accrue by being ZIFA board members.

As things stand, the Board Member Finance has been systematically frustrated by being denied access to the association’s financial records. As things stand, we cannot as board members stand up and tell the nation that truly ZIFA owes the huge amounts we read about because we have not been afforded an opportunity to understand how the debt was accrued.

The FIFA officials visit is a case in point. It was evident from the way their programme was structured and managed that there were board members who were not meant to interact with these officials. When the FIFA officials came to discuss ZIFA’s debt, the Board Member Finance was excluded.

The ZIFA board members claimed that some of them have now been isolated that they were no longer being invited to football and sport functions but, when the Government had issues with the way the game was being run, they were collectively criticised even though they were not having any input into the game’s administration.

They claim, in their memorandum, that the ZIFA secretariat has not even advised both FIFA and CAF that there has been a change of leadership, in the women’s wing of the game, about a year after the elections.

“The CEO is on record as saying women’s football is petty. He was never reprimanded therefore, suggesting, that is the view of the board,” the memorandum says.

“We are bringing these concerns to your attention early in the New Year in the fervent hope that you will see the positive intentions of our correspondence so that you can guide us as ZIFA board members to resolve these and other issues to pave the way for proper football administration in Zimbabwe.

“Our individual and collective desire when we offered ourselves for election as ZIFA board members was and remains to serve football.

“This communication is NOT a petition but a loud cry to you as our football leaders to appreciate and act on our concerns which we raise on behalf of the Zimbabwean football family.

“We are, therefore, requesting that we meet as a full board as a matter of urgency, by the first week of February, to discuss these and other football matters.

“We are writing this letter because we truly believe that, collectively, we can save Zimbabwean football from further regression.”