Chiyangwa ruffles feathers

THE decision by the Phillip Chiyangwa-led football governing body - Zifa - to order a forensic audit at the Premier Soccer League (PSL) has been received with mixed feelings by football stakeholders.

This follows several other controversial decisions by the association's board since it assumed office about two months ago.

From the time that Chiyangwa was campaigning for the Zifa presidency, he spoke loudly on football development, servicing the association's ever-ballooning debt and leaving a legacy. But stakeholders feel the board may have now shifted its focus.

Speaking to Standardsport on condition of anonymity, one of the 16 premiership clubs chairman said Zifa needed to look at themselves in the mirror and see if they were clean before investigating.

"This caught most of us by surprise as club leaders. We thought Zifa was going to clean themselves first before a downward movement to its affiliates. You can only clean football starting from the mother body going down," the chairman said.

There are fears in the football fraternity that Chiyangwa could be losing the plot and going the way of his predecessor Cuthbert Dube, who expended a lot of his effort and money on the Asiagate scandal, forgetting that his success as Zifa president was measured by the success of national teams.

This follows the pushing out of former PSL boss Twine Phiri by the board, which followed the swift engagment of forensic auditors to check the books of the premier league.

Chiyangwa was, however, quick to defend the Zifa stance, arguing that it was within their jurisdiction to cross-check things at its affiliates, while revealing that his board had also called for an audit of Zifa books.

"I think one needs to understand this. Zifa has the right to call an audit. As I speak, auditors are busy with Zifa's books. These audits will be conducted at all Zifa affiliates, starting with PSL. We will also go to women football, beach soccer, Nash and Naph. It's only that we could not make it known that an audit was being conducted at Zifa," Chiyangwa said.

He added, "The reason why the PSL audit has raised eyebrows is the fact that we pushed Twine Phiri out, thus everyone thinks we have an ulterior motive. No. We have actually called for this audit because after pushing Phiri out, we have to deal with him once and for all. It will not be fair to push him out and then come back to him after six months to do an audit, it will be like victimisation. We have to deal with this issue now once and for all. The fact that we instigated an audit means we have seen a number of anomalies."

Meanwhile, the Zifa board has failed to address the women football issue, as well as that of fresh coaches' associations grievances, which might see them taking football to court if the matter is not handled well.

A close look at PSL records shows that the league has been up to date in as far as paying levies to the mother body is concerned. The league pay $10 000 affiliation fees per year, while player registration costs $100 per player per year. The league has also been remitting the 6% levy to the mother body as expected.

Chiyangwa's sentiment were, however, echoed by Sports and Recreation Commission boss Retired Colonel Charles Nhemachena, who said the mother body had the right to audit PSL.

"Zifa has the right to call for an audit, but I thought they would look at what is supposed to be prioritised first. I thought they would start by auditing their Zifa accounts, creditors and release their financial statement. Creditors have been the biggest undoing at Zifa. It's only that people are waiting to see what happens during this transitional period, but I tell you, after this people will start coming, claiming their money, even taking the association to court."

"I am made to think that the board has clear reasons why they had to move in fast to instigate a forensic audit after Twine Phiri left which will not allow them anymore time to delay. And I also feel it's important," he said.

Sport and Recreation minister Makhosini Hlongwane said his ministry was watching developments, adding that it was important that the Zifa board stopped infighting and unnecessary grudges.

"People should learn to forgive and forget. Let's not be carried away by silly in-house fights. At the end of the day, football must be the winner," Hlongwane said.

Meanwhile, Zifa has joined the football fraternity in mourning Zifa Bulawayo province chairman, Washington Chimhanda who died in Bulawayo on Friday.

"The Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) is saddened to learn of the passing of Zifa Bulawayo province chairman, Washington Chimanda," Chiyangwa said yesterday.

Burial arrangements will be announced in due course.