News / National
Chiyangwa defends Nafaz in Parliament
24 Jun 2016 at 06:51hrs | Views
Nafaz president Philip Chiyangwa says a brutal decision was needed to save domestic football from collapsing when the Congress voted to dissolve bankrupt Zifa last month.
Chiyangwa and senior officials from Nafaz yesterday appeared before a Parliamentary Committee on Sport and Culture where he made a presentation on the dissolution of Zifa and the formation of Nafaz.
Chiyangwa said Zifa was insolvent and they needed to accept reality rather "than do the illegal thing by continuing to employ people and engaging creditors for more services when they knew they were not able to pay them back."
The committee, however, had to reschedule the hearing after Chiyangwa asked for leave because he wanted to catch an afternoon flight to South Africa to visit his doctor.
The members of the committee decided to adjourn the hearing after they refused to hear from any of his subordinates who included the two vice-presidents Omega Sibanda and Peter Dube or their legal representative Itayi Ndudzo.
Chiyangwa had told the committee that Zifa was no longer able to continue as a growing concern as the net liabilities far outweighed the net assets.
He said the Congress voted to dissolve in accordance with Article 77 of the Zifa constitution and then applied to be placed under sequestration.
The matter is now before the courts.
Asked about the morality of the decision given that a number of creditors could lose out, Chiyangwa said they were only following the law as it had become virtually illegal to keep Zifa in operation given that any transaction they conducted was virtually fraudulent.
He said the creditors must now lodge their claims with the appointed executor, Freddie Chimbari of Fremus Executor Services, once the necessary court formalities are completed.
"Anybody who supplied materials on the day we filed for bankruptcy is affected, just as good as those who gave us loans a year or two before. This is a question of the law that you are a creditor the moment the business shuts down," said Chiyangwa.
"The question is that if this business was able to pay its creditors we will not be where we are with Zifa because it was unable and could not; that's the reason why in the short period that I served as president I opted to file for bankruptcy.
"I know of a lot of people who are very proud to be called presidents of Zifa but they were saddling debts prior to my being there.
"It needed a brutal decision so that we can be able to walk away from newspapers writing about the demise of football in this country or creditors attaching things from the football association offices, bite the bullet and see what happens."
Zifa owed its creditors over $6 million.
The long list of creditors includes CBZ Bank ($1,795,000), Pandhari Lodge ($268,346), Vogel Weber ($21 000), Zifa ad hoc Committee ($600,000), Led Travel and Tours ($244,527), Buymore Investments ($438,222).
With such a background and the negative financial records, Chiyangwa said the dissolution of Zifa and the formation of Nafaz was inevitable.
He told the committee that the football leadership envisages a better future with the death of Zifa which has opened doors to partners like NetOne who were now willing to do business with the association.
"At the Congress, it became apparent that we could not continue as a growing concern because we could neither pay our workers or creditors. Resultantly we resolved that we could not continue.
"The decision at Congress was followed by an application, which is not over yet, that of declaring insolvency, declaring bankruptcy.
"As people who are free to engage we then met to establish Nafaz, which is our constitutional right. Having done so we then informed our principal, Fifa.
"But prior to that we had already received a greenlight from Fifa, which we communicated to SRC. At this juncture we are seized with the matter of registering Nafaz.
"Doing this has taken us away from always having an office which is always invaded by creditors or sheriffs with warrants of execution for everything that was at Zifa. There was nothing when I took over. I bought furniture when I came in which was attached at some point until I proved it was mine."
Chiyangwa said the future was bright in the new dispensation. "The extent to which Zifa is indebted is known. If it's not $6 million it might be much more than that because these amounts attract interest," said Chiyangwa.
"When it comes to this transition it's a blessing; it has enabled us to sign a multi-million dollar corporate sponsorship with NetOne which they were not willing to sign with Zifa.
"That will then mean that even Fifa who were not willing to send any money to development projects, which are the Goal Projects and others, and those funds have been assured us amounting to $5m once registration (of Nafaz) is complete.
"Those funds will be directed to junior football in Zimbabwe as well as ensuring that the association itself is well funded for other activities that are to take place in Zimbabwe.
"I have also been lucky to find a partner who has financially bankrolled most of the Warriors' activities who is called Wicknell Chivayo.
"We look forward to a much better future without Zifa, without the sheriffs knocking on the door all the time, with funds that cannot be garnished at the bank because of creditors attaching each and everything that is associated with the name of Zifa."
Chiyangwa and senior officials from Nafaz yesterday appeared before a Parliamentary Committee on Sport and Culture where he made a presentation on the dissolution of Zifa and the formation of Nafaz.
Chiyangwa said Zifa was insolvent and they needed to accept reality rather "than do the illegal thing by continuing to employ people and engaging creditors for more services when they knew they were not able to pay them back."
The committee, however, had to reschedule the hearing after Chiyangwa asked for leave because he wanted to catch an afternoon flight to South Africa to visit his doctor.
The members of the committee decided to adjourn the hearing after they refused to hear from any of his subordinates who included the two vice-presidents Omega Sibanda and Peter Dube or their legal representative Itayi Ndudzo.
Chiyangwa had told the committee that Zifa was no longer able to continue as a growing concern as the net liabilities far outweighed the net assets.
He said the Congress voted to dissolve in accordance with Article 77 of the Zifa constitution and then applied to be placed under sequestration.
The matter is now before the courts.
Asked about the morality of the decision given that a number of creditors could lose out, Chiyangwa said they were only following the law as it had become virtually illegal to keep Zifa in operation given that any transaction they conducted was virtually fraudulent.
He said the creditors must now lodge their claims with the appointed executor, Freddie Chimbari of Fremus Executor Services, once the necessary court formalities are completed.
"Anybody who supplied materials on the day we filed for bankruptcy is affected, just as good as those who gave us loans a year or two before. This is a question of the law that you are a creditor the moment the business shuts down," said Chiyangwa.
"The question is that if this business was able to pay its creditors we will not be where we are with Zifa because it was unable and could not; that's the reason why in the short period that I served as president I opted to file for bankruptcy.
"I know of a lot of people who are very proud to be called presidents of Zifa but they were saddling debts prior to my being there.
"It needed a brutal decision so that we can be able to walk away from newspapers writing about the demise of football in this country or creditors attaching things from the football association offices, bite the bullet and see what happens."
Zifa owed its creditors over $6 million.
The long list of creditors includes CBZ Bank ($1,795,000), Pandhari Lodge ($268,346), Vogel Weber ($21 000), Zifa ad hoc Committee ($600,000), Led Travel and Tours ($244,527), Buymore Investments ($438,222).
With such a background and the negative financial records, Chiyangwa said the dissolution of Zifa and the formation of Nafaz was inevitable.
He told the committee that the football leadership envisages a better future with the death of Zifa which has opened doors to partners like NetOne who were now willing to do business with the association.
"At the Congress, it became apparent that we could not continue as a growing concern because we could neither pay our workers or creditors. Resultantly we resolved that we could not continue.
"The decision at Congress was followed by an application, which is not over yet, that of declaring insolvency, declaring bankruptcy.
"As people who are free to engage we then met to establish Nafaz, which is our constitutional right. Having done so we then informed our principal, Fifa.
"But prior to that we had already received a greenlight from Fifa, which we communicated to SRC. At this juncture we are seized with the matter of registering Nafaz.
"Doing this has taken us away from always having an office which is always invaded by creditors or sheriffs with warrants of execution for everything that was at Zifa. There was nothing when I took over. I bought furniture when I came in which was attached at some point until I proved it was mine."
Chiyangwa said the future was bright in the new dispensation. "The extent to which Zifa is indebted is known. If it's not $6 million it might be much more than that because these amounts attract interest," said Chiyangwa.
"When it comes to this transition it's a blessing; it has enabled us to sign a multi-million dollar corporate sponsorship with NetOne which they were not willing to sign with Zifa.
"That will then mean that even Fifa who were not willing to send any money to development projects, which are the Goal Projects and others, and those funds have been assured us amounting to $5m once registration (of Nafaz) is complete.
"Those funds will be directed to junior football in Zimbabwe as well as ensuring that the association itself is well funded for other activities that are to take place in Zimbabwe.
"I have also been lucky to find a partner who has financially bankrolled most of the Warriors' activities who is called Wicknell Chivayo.
"We look forward to a much better future without Zifa, without the sheriffs knocking on the door all the time, with funds that cannot be garnished at the bank because of creditors attaching each and everything that is associated with the name of Zifa."
Source - chronicle
