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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
BASKETBALL Union of Zimbabwe (BUZ) office bearers have been accused of running the national association like a dynasty, with only those within the cartel being preferred when it came to national team appointments.

There are also allegations of gross financial irregularities within BUZ, with allegations that the association has gone for a number of years without availing audited financial statements.

Sources said so rampant was the violation of good corporate governance that the executive appointed a former BUZ national president national team coach immediately after the end of his tenure, which stretched from 2009 to 2019.

“It’s only that basketball is not one of those hugely followed sports in the country like football where anything done by Zifa or the Premier Soccer League is always under the microscope. Even rugby, cricket, athletics and to some extent netball are always in the public eye, so people take advantage of that to throw governance ethics out of the window.

“We have Addison Chiware, who was president from 2009 to 2019 assuming the position of national team head coach. Honestly how does that happen?

“He was replaced in the presidency by his former secretary-general Joe Mujuru, who then immediately appointed him national team coach because they don’t want any outsider to come inside their gravy train,” said a disgruntled insider.

Another long serving member in the structures is Sikhumbuzo Ndlovu, who is said to have been BUZ head of technical since 2009.

“It’s a pitch black box; their strength lies in compromising provinces by blinding them with ‘gifts’ mainly from the 2014 African Union Sports Council Region Five Under-20 Youth Games legacy equipment such as laptops, shot clocks basketballs and so forth. The concern is no one seems to make noise about all this and many other serious misdemeanours that are happening in the game,” said the source.

Contacted for comment Chiware, refuted all the allegations and said financials have always been presented at their annual general meetings.

“People are talking from positions of ignorance which is rather unfortunate, but what everybody knows is that the financials have always been presented to delegates because that is a requirement both in terms of our constitution and that of the regulating authority, the Sports and Recreation Commission.

“As for the equipment they are mentioning, all that was taken by the Bulawayo City Council as legacy equipment and I am sure the SRC is also aware of that,” said Chiware.