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Grace Chingoma, Harare Bureau
ZIFA and the Sport and Recreation Commission are headed on a collision after the football controlling body were accused of a number of irregularities, including lack of corporate governance, in the administration of football in the country.

The Sports Commission had been conducting an inquiry on Zifa and last Friday they presented their findings to the Association.

However, Zifa believe they were not only misled by the Sports Commission but ambushed in the process and relations between the two are said to have sunk to another all-time low.

There are even fears the differences could spark the kind of boardroom battles which could be viewed by Fifa as possible interference in the running of the game in this country, from a Government arm, and invite sanctions, including the suspension of the Warriors and all national teams from international competitions.

Fifa recently suspended Sudan from the world football family and this led to the country’s two major clubs, Al Merreikh and Al Hilal, being thrown out of the Caf Champions League.

Zifa say they were misled into believing that the inquiry was restricted to trying to establish events surrounding the boycott of a farewell dinner by the Warriors on the eve of their departure for the 2017 African Cup of Nations in Gabon.

Instead the Sports Commission are understood to have conducted a probe into Zifa’s operations and have now compiled a report and asked the association to respond.

The commission claims that there was no separation of duties from the secretariat at Zifa and the executive committee.

It is the Commission’s claim that all the deliberations and day-to-day running of the association are being done by the executive committee instead of the secretariat, despite Zifa having Joseph Mamutse as the acting chief executive.

Zifa are currently on the hunt for a substantive chief executive to replace Jonathan Mashingaidze with such names as Andy Hodges having been linked to the influential post.

Sports Commission sources said the supreme body wanted Zifa to expedite the appointment of a substantive chief executive.

“The SRC observed that there is no human resource policy at the organisation which results in a chaotic manner in which things are done.

“For example the fact that the players staged a sit-in over the issue of money showed that there was no proper management whereby players are expected to sign contracts before they camp for national team duties which helps in communication between the two parties and avoiding a situation where players end up striking.

“There is also worry that more than a year after substantive chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze left office the mother body is yet to replace him.

‘’They believe having someone acting in that important position for too long only compromises the quality of administration which at the end of the day can be pointed to have contributed to the lack of proper governance structures at the association,” said the sources.

Veteran administrator Titus Zvomuya led the committee which held interviews with some of the players who were in the Warriors’ Nations Cup squad.

Zifa communications manager Xolisani Gwesela insisted that the Sports Commission report was a draft document that could only be complete after the Association gave their side of the story.

With Mamutse attending a Caf Football Symposium in Rabat, Morocco, Gwesela is also doubling as acting chief executive.

“It’s a draft report for our input, we will go through it and put our input for the final report. The draft report is not conclusive,” Gwesela said.