BY DANIEL NHAKANISO August 11, 2019
ZC not completely off the hook
THE recently reinstated Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) board will not escape further scrutiny after
the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) said it would intensify its probe into the affairs of the game beyond the lifting of the suspension.
An interim committee that had been appointed by the SRC to run the affairs of Zimbabwean cricket in place of the suspended board had now been
transformed into a special advisory body on cricket for the country’s supreme sports regulatory body.
In a statement yesterday, the Gerald Mlotshwa-led SRC board said the interim committee now becomes an
“Audit, Risk Management and Legal Committee” to probe the affairs of ZC.
The country’s sports regulatory body said the reassignment of the interim committee was part of the agreement reached to bring back the suspended board into office.
The SRC’s Audit, Risk Management and Legal Committee will be comprised of members of the recently disbanded ZC interim committee led by veteran cricket administrator Dave Ellman-Brown.
“Pursuant to Paragraph 8 of the Deed of Settlement signed between Zimbabwe Cricket, Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation and the Sports and Recreation Commission, and forming part of the Consent Order filed with the Administrative Court of Zimbabwe, it is hereby notified that the members of the Interim Committee previously charged with the administration of Zimbabwe Cricket are hereby, in terms of Section 12(2)(b) of the Sports and Recreation Commission Act, appointed as members of the Sports and Recreation Commission’s Audit, Risk Management and Legal Committee charged with enquiring specifically into the affairs of Zimbabwe Cricket,” the SRC said in a statement yesterday.
“Their terms of reference shall, mutatis mutandis, be those terms of reference previously obtaining under the Interim Committee to the extent that
these do not extend to the administration or management of Zimbabwe Cricket. Zimbabwe Cricket, in terms of the Deed of Settlement forming a part of the said Consent Order, and in particular paragraph 14 thereof, has
agreed to ‘cooperate and exercise the utmost good faith’ with the purposes and intentions of this Committee. The appointment is effective from the date on which the Registrar of the Administrative Court issues the Consent Order agreed to under Case No ACC 34/19,” it added.
As part of the agreement,
ZC is to appoint in the next two months a new substantive managing director highly recommended by the ICC.
“The second respondent (ZC board) agrees to appoint, within 60 days hereof,
a substantive chief executive officer, being a person whose identity has already been agreed to with the International Cricket Council, and if not so appointed, the post will be advertised and recruitment thereof made on the recommendation of a reputable consultancy firm within a further period of 30 days,” reads the document.
Acting ZC managing director Givemore Makoni, whose suspension was also lifted last week, is expected to step down from the post which he has held since the departure of former ICC finance chief Faisal Hasnain in November 2017.
The settlement also significantly
empowers the country’s national team players, who will have the right to appoint a former national team player on the ZC board to represent their interests.
The retired cricketer to be co-opted on the board by the end of this month will be one of two board of directors with “a verifiable and credible background in cricket and its administration”.
Reads the statement: “Additionally, the
centrally-contracted cricketers shall be entitled to nominate one director for appointment to the board of directors of second respondent (ZC) by August 31, 2019, which nominee shall be a retired cricketer previously centrally contracted.”
A lot of the ICC demands for representation in Zimbabwe Cricket were widely known, plus Makoni was there temporarily acting anyway, so it's pointless for SRC to try and sneak that into their statement as if it has got anything to do with them. These were conditions to ZC receiving funds. I'm not worried by any ICC appointment because I was not impressed by Faisal Hasnain, and like it or not, he was very positive and complimentary about the ZC Board and Management.
Huge mistake by the SRC, and ZC agreed to it knowing it would be irrelevant. It is illegal to have over 100 players male in female players in the country, and reduce Board representation to just the national team players, more specifically
centrally contracted players only. This to my knowledge does not exist in any other cricket nation. What we have in SA (CSA) for example is an agreement for the entire player's representative, to be consulted in all mah\jor decision making or changes.
ZC are very clever, and they know fully well that when the troube starts, they can simply organise a few domestic players to nullify that appointment, and the courts will simply slap both ZC and SRC on the wrist and instruct them to redo the process of appointing a player representative. They have the numbers in the Board so it won't matter much, but if and when it does, they will use chaos and the courts to right that wrong in their favour.
It's easy to see why this is happening:
1. SRC and their people are in a rush
2. They do not want to go through the process of trying to establish a players union, not because the players are divided, but because it would take time; and
3. The centrally contacted players are mostly made up of players who share their thinking since they are the majority (BT, KJ, Williams, Craig Ervine, PJ and Raza)
Mlotshwa, SRC, Dave Ellman-Brown and Vince Hogg are clearly not thinking straight. Their
advisory body has no legal powers under the
SRC Act. Which means none of their findings will have legal basis. Plus their work relies on ZC having "agreed to cooperate and exercise the utmost good faith". Which is not defined anywhere and not enforceable legally or easily in any court.
In South Africa the Sports Minister appointed a Judicial Commission of Inquiry. In India (BCCI), they similarly had powerful Arbitration with more than one Judge. Nothing tangible or usable will come out of whatever this SRC is trying to do. But there was a small purpose to it because promises were made and some "reputable" people want their palms greased for having food removed from their mouths.
This make me very glad because after over two decades of administration in Zimbabwe Cricket, we finally have evidence of corruption in the form of jobs-for-pals by Kirsty Coventry and the President's son-in-law. And I'm so ecstatic that Hogg and Ellman-Brown are the beneficiaries. This is what real corruption looks like ladies and gentlemen. Plus no timeframe!
I can't wait for the other Sports to follow this precedent.
Sports and Recreation Commission’s Audit, Risk Management and Legal Committee charged with enquiring specifically into the affairs of Zimbabwe
Rugby, Chess, Lawn Bowls, Netball, Hockey, Athletics, Football, Dog Racing, Baseball Voice of reason.
This doesn't make sense 
