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Ricky Zililo, [email protected]

HIGHLANDERS Football Club’s executive survived a vote of no confidence after the auditors issued an adverse opinion on the club’s financials which paints a bad picture of the institution.

An adverse opinion means that the auditors cannot vouch for the authenticity of Highlanders’ financials and the statements do not fairly present the financial position.

The explosive meeting held yesterday at the clubhouse was a continuation of the January 29 Annual General Meeting that failed to produce audited financial statements.

What became clear at yesterday’s meeting was that there was a management crisis at Highlanders, with the executive and board’s working relationship seemingly strained.

The delay in producing audited financials seemed to have annoyed members and board member Peter Dube who chairs the finance committee didn’t help matters, brazenly speaking about frustrations met during the audit and even challenged members to interrogate the financial statements.

Before the start of the meeting, Dube said it was unfortunate that the presentation of financial statements was coming four months after the AGM instead of the 30 days they had promised to report back to members.

He told members that they held a series of meetings stretching up to five hours a day in desperate efforts to speed up the audit exercise but there was resistance in implementing some of the decisions that came from their meetings despite the fact that some of the decisions were taken in the presence of auditors.

Dube said they authorised the treasurer Busani Mthombeni to look for experts to assist in capturing data as per recommendations by the auditors and even greenlighted payment of overtime but his committee could see that wasn’t welcome, leaving them wondering why the resistance.

But what stoked flames was that about US$10 000 was paid to the executive and the board in allowances.

The financial statements showed that US$9 908 was paid in allowances, with US$450 going to the board.

Giving a breakdown, Mthombeni said US$1 100 was paid to the leadership that went for a European tour, with US$5  000 being sitting allowances for the executive. The remainder US$3 358 was what the executive shared from the 2022 Independence Cup prize money.

Dube revealed that unlike in the past when the previous executives sought board clearance to get allowances, the present executive gave themselves the Independence Cup bonuses without the knowledge of the board.

Dube went on to open a Pandora’s box, alleging that US$3 800 was paid to an “unknown” person and there’s a balance of over US$1 500.

“Before the auditors leave, let’s confirm that we’ve got an amount of US$10 000 that has no receipts, absolutely nothing.

“If there’s a member who is genuinely owed, why don’t we get to know the name of that person? Before coming to this meeting, we sat and we were told that there’s an amount of over US$5  000 borrowed from someone and US$3 800 has been paid. You ask who this benefactor is, the answer you get is ‘asimazi’. Kungcolile,” said an emotionally charged Dube.

However, Mthombeni, who also apologised for the delay in producing audited financials explained that the allowances were paid “as and when funds permitted”.

He didn’t take it kindly that there are insinuations that its only the present executive that gets allowances and attempted to reveal past statements as evidence that previous executives also enjoyed allowances.

The auditors said issues to do with allowances were backed by vouchers.

The auditors revealed that the audit could have been completed by January but Mthombeni refused their request to start the process in October last year. Starting earlier could have cleared a lot of issues according to the auditors.

They also noted that Highlanders’ accounting department needs capacitation so that they understand modern auditing trends.

The auditors encouraged the club to have an independent internal audit team that will keep checks on the accounts during the year.

They were also concerned that the club didn’t have a grasp of monies raised by supporters’ chapters, which made it difficult for those funds to be accounted for. In one of the meetings the club had with the auditors, it was discovered that there’s a chapter that is holding onto funds they raised on behalf of Highlanders.

Another concern raised by the auditors which they believe can be eliminated if there’s an internal audit process is that of discrepancies in cash taken from the clubhouse to the offices.

“There were incidents when amounts collected from the clubhouse were different from that surrendered at offices. These are some of the things that can be addressed with internal audit,” said the auditor.

Another issue which was raised was the clubhouse partnership with local businessman Phathisani Nkomo.

Mthombeni told members that Nkomo invested US$65 000 and the club will be getting not less than US$2 000 each month. The deal also states that Nkomo will recoup his loan (US$65 000) in two years. The repayment of the loan sees 50 percent of net profit servicing the loan, 25 percent going to Highlanders and 25 percent to Nkomo who is the club’s consultant engaged for five years.

However, Dube said they were shocked that the figure is now US$65 000 when they agreed to a US$50 000 loan. This publication established that the loan shot up after renovations were extended to redoing the roof.

Board chairman Luke Mnkandla also told members that he was shocked to learn at the meeting through Mthombeni that the club is getting US$2 000 when the contract he had in his possession states that the minimum for the club will be US$3 000.

Members also asked about last year’s Independence Cup allowances that were taken from three club employees and were not recorded in financials.

Mthombeni responded by saying he can only comment on issues that were within his schedule, adding that he wasn’t aware that some employees had allowances repossessed. Mnkandla then told members that it was unfortunate that Mthombeni was being economical with the truth on the allowances repossessed from members of staff, adding that they spoke about the issue and asked everyone involved to write reports.

“We can’t be hiding things that are public knowledge. People must be told the truth,” said Mnkandla.

With so much bickering, Dumile Ncube proposed a vote of no confidence on the executive which was opposed by Benkosi Maphosa who said the board and executive should work on their differences and do their duties accordingly.

The meeting took a break as the board deliberated on what action to take after members called for a vote of no confidence before returning to ask members to reconsider and give the executive and the board a chance.

Highlanders’ vice-chairman Fiso Siziba apologised to members for the mess.

“We apologise that we got into this mess because of not working together. I’d like to say to fellow executive committee members and the board, let’s do self-introspection and see how best we can serve Highlanders.

“We owe you an apology,” said Siziba. — @ZililoR