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Nyararai Sibanda

Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
AFTER probing the problems rocking the Zimbabwe Rugby Union, the Sport and Recreation Commission have recommended five-year bans for suspended executives and want an audit carried out on the Association amid allegations of financial impropriety. The Sports Commission made the recommendations in a 24 page report, which they complied after investigating the problems that had pegged back the ZRU and want the suspended leadership of Nyararai Sibanda, Noddy Kanyangarara and Joseph Kanyete banned from all rugby activities for a minimum of five years.

A three-member committee of Clement Mukwasi (chairperson) and members Titus Zvomuya and John Falkenberg came up with the report which also recommended that an audit be carried on the ZRU amid allegations of misappropriation of funds by the executive committee. Among a plethora of ills reported to be eating into the effective administrative systems of the ZRU, the committee noted with concern that:

“ . . . of the 90 000 pounds which the union receives as annual international grant, 77 5000 pounds is used for administration including salaries while 7 000 was set aside for domestic competitions and 1 000 for training’’.

The committee also observed that sponsorship funds were used transparently and suggested that the ZRU 2016 audit report was susceptible to manipulation.

“The ZRU has one main account to which the honorary treasurer is a signatory. Account number two was dormant during the period 2014-2016, however, it was reactivated in July 2017 for the Sevens. The sevens manager and treasurer are signatories. There is a third account with NMB which is indicated in the 2016 audited accounts but is unknown by the CEO. All three signatories to that account are former employees of the Union.

“No financial systems were being observed. There is no finance committee in place, no internal audit system in place, no purchasing and supply procedures in place, so separation of roles between those who receive money, those who bank it, those who pay for supplies and those who receive the supplies. Sponsors’ money not used transparently as a result there was disunity within ZRU as some members wanted to avoid financial scrutiny,’’ the committee said.

The Commission also revealed that the ZRU’s audit report for last year had some key information glaringly missing.

“In the auditor’s opinion of the 2016 audit report, there are no sponsorship documents that show how much exactly was given or pledged. The only documents produced by the ZRU were international receipts which are susceptible to manipulation. The 2016 audit report was only signed at the end, creating a risk of manipulation. The audited accounts do not have pages 1 to 3. The committee could not find out why such pages are concealed’’. Suspicions were also raised in the findings that funds allocated by World Rugby and meant for the director of rugby were abused.

“Director of rugby was getting a salary less than what he perceives to be allocated by World Rugby as his salary. In the 2016 audited accounts an amount of $11 000 that was meant to be a 12-month salary for the former CEO was donated to the ZRU and in 2016, the CEO worked for nine months and donated her nine months’ salary to the ZRU again but the amount is shown as $11 000.

“This shows poor record keeping and poor financial accountability. This kind of manipulation of figures creates a risk of theft and embezzlement of funds. Colleen De Jong, the former CEO of ZRU was elected to the board of Africa Rugby in 2014, a position that she holds until 2019. The former CEO’s position at Rugby Africa is shrouded in secrecy as her nomination was not forwarded by ZRU. As things stand, ZRU has no representative on the continental board.’’

Suspended president Sibanda is also being accused of having misused the Union’s funds.

“The suspended president’s expenses are being drawn against the grant which would not have been provided for. There were too many funded trips for the president raising concern that some trips might not have been undertaken in the interests of the ZRU as there is no correlation between the travels and rugby related business.

“The president had access to the ZRU account, hence would cause for the funding of international and local trips but would not give any feedback to ZRU, thereby creating doubt that he was being funded for official business,’’ the committee said. After spelling out their findings, the committee also came up with a host of recommendations, including introducing a code of ethics to guide ZRU board and executive committee on their role to improve efficiency and effectiveness and avoid unnecessary conflict of interest.

“The members of ZRU who are on suspension should be banned from participating in the organisation or leading of any sport of rugby at any level for a minimum period of five years,’’ the Commission said.