By Melisa Javangwe
Suspended Felton Kamambo-led Zifa board has written to Sports Minister Kirsty Coventry demanding that she withdraws the statement she recently made to Parliament or risk being sued.
In a letter seen by this publication, Kamambo and his board members described Minister Coventry’s report to Parliament as inaccurate, misleading, patently false, unsubstantiated and outright defamatory hence they are demanding unconditional withdrawal of the report, without which they will proceed to sue the minister.
“We note with concern endless inaccurate, misleading, patently false, unsubstantiated and outright defamatory utterances recently made in Parliament on the 29th of March 2023 by the Hon Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture Kirsty Coventry during her question- and- answer session,” reads the letter.
During a question and answer session in Parliament on the 29th of March, Minister Coventry told Parliament that her Ministry and the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) stepped in to suspend the Kamambo-led administration because they had, among several violations, failed to account for USD2 million, supposedly given to them by government ahead of the Warriors’ AFCON 2019 campaign.
After Coventry’s appearance before Parliament, Kamambo and company held a press conference during which they vehemently denied that they ever received USD2 million from government and that noone among them was under investigation by FIFA for abusing female referees.
“The false assertion that ZIFA was in acts of corruption failed to account for USD$2million given to them by government. No such money was ever given to ZIFA during the three years the suspended Board were in office. ZIFA only received USD$53 000 from government in 2019 and such was fully acquitted. SRC also confirmed same through their forensic auditors on ZIFA affairs that only RTGS$85 800 was paid to ZIFA by government and that all such was fully acquitted. The Minister therefore misrepresented to Parliament, the entire Country and rest of the world that government gave ZIFA through her Ministry a whooping USD$2million dollars which has not been acquitted to this day and justified the ZIFA Board suspension on that false narrative.”
Kamambo and company have given Minister Coventry 5 days to withdraw the statement or face a lawsuit. They have also challenged their accusers to prove their case.
“We call upon law enforcement authorities to investigate where this USD$2million went to and be shown evidentiary proof for same. We feel for the players, administrators, technical officials and soccer loving fans and stakeholders who have been deprived of organised football and if we had our way football will never ever have been suspended.
“Apart therefore from telling this truth, there is nothing we can do until and unless the FIFA conditions are met. Once again we publicly plead our innocency and challenge our persecutors to publicly share any evidence of their accusations.” reads the letter.
The Minister is yet to respond.
