Situation of Zimbabwe Football association
Dear chairman
We refer to you a letter dated 14 august through which you requested FIFA to appoint a normalisation committee for the Zimbabwe Football association (ZIFA) namely because of allegations of financial mismanagement.
At the outset we would like to underline that FIFA encourages close cooperative measures between its member associations and governments. In addition we expect our member associations to be fully accountable for and if required submit to the authority all relevant information regarding the use of public funds if any are provided in line with the pertinent national legislation
Regarding funding provided by FIFA, we would like to inform you that every member association receiving FIFA forward development funds including ZIFA is subject to rigorous controls in the use of these funds. This includes an annual central audit review which is undertaken by an independent professional auditor appointed by FIFA. Adverse findings noted by the auditors are reported to the FIFA audit and compliance committee and may result in a restriction or even a suspension of funding. Furthermore in the event of suspicion of the misuse of funds the matter is referred to the competent FIFA judicial body.
As a consequence of the above, we deem that the conditions for setting up a normalisation committee in line with art 8 par,2 of the FIFA statutes are not fulfilled .In this context we must remind you of the art 14 par ,1 and art 19 par,1 of the FIFA statutes which states that all member associations are obliged to manage their affairs independently and without undue influence from third parties. Therefore should the minister of Youth ,Sport , Arts and Recreation of Zimbabwe upon recommendation of Sports and Recreation Committee (SRC) ,decide to appoint an interim committee to administer the affairs of ZIFA it would be considered undue influence in the statutes of FIFA. Consequently the matter would be presented to the relevant FIFA bodies for consideration and possible action which may include the suspension of ZIFA.
Finally we would like to inform you that FIFA is engaged in assisting ZIFA, with its debt servicing strategy .In this regard we would like to undermine that we remain at the authorities’ disposal to discuss if possible joint efforts to address ZIFA’s current financial situation.
We thank you for taking note of the above and trust in your understanding.
Yours sincerely
FIFA
