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Andrew Langa

Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
THE government through the Ministry of Sports, Arts and Culture is making frantic efforts to help the beleaguered Zifa raise $81,000 to clear former Warriors coach Valinhos’ debt which got the country expelled from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

Because of Zifa’s bungling, the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Andrew Langa said they’ve been forced to intervene and save the nation the embarrassment of missing out on an opportunity to participate for a slot at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Langa could not explain why the debt has suddenly shot to $81,000 from the previously announced $60,000.

However, sources within the association said the difference could be made up of legal fees.

“I summoned Zifa and the Sport and Recreation Commission to give me a detailed report over the case in which Zifa ignored warnings by Fifa regarding the Valinhos labour dispute. I got the report and to be honest it didn’t go down well with me,” Langa said.

“Because the expulsion matter affects the country, we can’t leave it to Zifa alone and that is why we’ve to work on getting the $81,000 so that Fifa can rescind their decision.”

Besides the Valinhos matter, Zifa are embroiled in another potentially explosive case with Tom Saintfiet who won a $150,000 lawsuit — excluding legal costs — for unfair dismissal.

Originally, Saintfiet was claiming $451,086.46 and is being represented by Spanish lawyers Ruiz, Huerta and Crespo, who obtained a writ of execution after being awarded $150,000 in damages, for coaching the Warriors for just one day, during the 2012 Nations Cup qualifiers.

The Belgian coach was smuggled into the Warriors coaching staff by the previous Zifa board led by Cuthbert Dube in 2010, and took charge of two training sessions for the Warriors, in one day, in the week leading to a 2012 Nations Cup qualifier against Cape Verde at the National Sports Stadium.

He signed a deal to coach the Warriors for four years but his romance with the Warriors ended after just one day after he was deported for flouting the country’s immigration rules by working here without a work permit.

The ever-blundering Zifa, who’ve failed to attract corporate partners over the years, are faced with mammoth assignment to raise at least a quarter of a million dollars to pay off Valinhos and Saintfiet.

This sounds like a script from the popular Mission Impossible television series and it remains to be seen whether the Cuthbert Dube-led association, blamed for monumental blunders, will be able to accomplish their mission.

On the Saintfiet issue, Langa said: “That issue I believe Zifa are handling.”

The Zifa chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze — the man who ignored Fifa warnings on Valinhos — is confident that the debt that got the country expelled will be cleared by end of April.

“There’s work in progress and we are very confident that we will extinguish the debt by end of April. After that, we will engage the Fifa leadership with a view of being re-admitted for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers,” said Mashingaidze.

There are nine cases that have a writ of execution against Zifa, all totalling a staggering $2,553,063.45, according to confidential information obtained by Chronicle Sport, and the 100 creditors are owed a combined $6,135,965.50.

The other eight creditors with writs of execution are Viking Security ($15,934), who guarded the Zifa headquarters in Harare, Traverze Travel ($65,747), who provided airfares, presumably for national teams and the association officials, Rainbow Towers ($52,069.30), who provided accommodation and meals for the association, New Ambassador Hotel ($25,928), for accommodating national teams.

LED Travel and Tours, owned by Zifa board member Ben Gwarada, have a writ of execution for a $196,467.92 debt, while Pandhari Lodge ($232,987.23) for accommodation and meals, and Mapeza ($245,000 in salary arrears), are also in the same boat.