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This weekend’s Sunday News has a curious piece about ZC’s financial issues, which queries why, if the KPMG audit commissioned by the ICC didn’t turn up any evidence of criminality, there appears to be a lot of money going into ZC and not coming back out again:

For the record the cricket mother body receives huge amounts of money from the ICC for taking part in tournaments such as the World Cup but most of that money does not go into the core business which is the development of the game, maintenance of infrastructure and the players. Despite aid from the ICC over the years, public schools are struggling to keep the little there is of cricket going.

ZC did put up artificial turfs at some of the schools in Bulawayo and Harare a few years ago and also provided the schools with equipment but the facilities have not been maintained.

Amongst other things that ZC used to spend money on are: ZC’s scholarship program, which has been severely curtailed; the lack of support for club cricket, compared to the situation a few years back; the apparent abandonment of development initiatives at Emakhandeni in Bulawayo and Mbizo in Kwekwe; outstanding match fees due to Heath Streak, Gavin Ewing, Stuart Carlisle, Dion Ebrahim and Andy Blignaut; the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy, which despite ZC’s denials doesn’t seem to have had an intake since 2006. The article also questions the need for ZC to have 3 Harare offices (HSC, Highfield and Mount Pleasant), and why when they have the largest media department of any ICC Full Member, they still can’t seem to issue an accurate scorecard.

The criticism is worth noting at the paper is government-backed - while the political situation is still up in the air at the moment, it could be taken as a sign that the Chingoka board is losing political support.

As the Sunday News doesn’t archive its articles, I’ve reposted it in full below the cut.
Sunday News - ZC absolved: But where is the money going?

ZC absolved: But where is the money going?

Talking Sport with Mehluli Sibanda

ZIMBABWE Cricket was recently absolved of financial wrongdoing by the International Cricket Council-ordered forensic audit carried out by South African firm KPMG.

“A detailed forensic report was produced by KPMG South Africa and KPMG Zimbabwe regarding the 2005-06 accounts of Zimbabwe Cricket. This report was considered by the ICC Audit Committee, which reported to the ICC Board. In its review of the ICC Audit Committee report, the ICC Board accepted that the KPMG report had found no evidence of criminality (on the part of ZC) and that no individuals had gained financially,’’ the ICC statement on the ZC forensic report read in part.

“The Board noted, however, that the report highlighted serious financial irregularities. ZC reported to the ICC Board that it had taken substantial remedial action to correct these irregularities and would continue to do so.”

For the record the cricket mother body receives huge amounts of money from the ICC for taking part in tournaments such as the World Cup but most of that money does not go into the core business which is the development of the game, maintenance of infrastructure and the players. Despite aid from the ICC over the years, public schools are struggling to keep the little there is of cricket going.

ZC did put up artificial turfs at some of the schools in Bulawayo and Harare a few years ago and also provided the schools with equipment but the facilities have not been maintained. It is only the private schools which have managed to maintain their own facilities but these schools charge exorbitant school fees far beyond the reach of many. ZC used to have a scholarship programme where promising cricketers would be sent to these private schools like Falcon College just outside Bulawayo and St Georges in Harare to get expert coaching. The number of youngsters on these scholarships has gone down over the years and a few players are now beneficiaries.
Club cricket is virtually dead. Clubs are struggling to maintain their facilities and most of them do not have equipment. It is not surprising to see batsmen exchanging batting pads, gloves, helmets and bats at the fall of a wicket during a club cricket match.

ZC used to import equipment that they used to sell to clubs and schools at low prices but they have not done so for two years. The clubs used to get a club support fund and were given an option of getting equipment in lieu of the money but that is no longer the case… the clubs have to look after themselves.

In Bulawayo, there were six cricket fields in year 2001. These were Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo Athletic Club, Bulawayo Sports Club, Crescent Sports Club, Old Miltonians and McDonalds Sports Club but now only Queens Sports Club and Bulawayo Athletic Club are suitable for use. Emakhandeni Ground, a good development initiative by ZC, is in a state of neglect and with water problems in Bulawayo last year, the ground was not used for the local league. The building is still yet to be completed yet ICC president Ray Mali visited the facility last year and pledged more money for its completion.

Could someone in ZC tell me what is happening to Mbizo Cricket Club in Kwekwe, which was another noble development initiative? Work on this facility started in 2005 but up to now it is not complete.
Players are not looked after as professionals and got only 2% of the money from last year’s World Cup. Former players like Heath Streak, Gavin Ewing, Stuart Carlisle, Dion Ebrahim and Andy Blignaut are owed money for match fees and bonuses from 2005 and it seems the players will never get their money. Former coach Phil Simmons is also owed money and he might as well forget about it as well.

The Zimbabwe Cricket Academy, which had become the envy of other African countries, is no longer serving its purpose. Before the office building was gutted by fire last year, the Academy had not had an intake for 2006.

The big question arises; if ZC are not spending money on the development of the game, then where is the money going?

The chunk of the money goes towards maintaining a bloated administration. ZC have a huge number of employees who are probably more than the cricketers on contract. ZC now have three offices in Harare, the old offices at Harare Sports Club, the office in Highlands where managing director Ozias Bvute operates from and another office in Mount Pleasant where the media department operates from. Certain posts have been created and that has led to duplication of duties. Caesar Bond Nayoto, formerly provincial manager for Midlands, has just been appointed southern region regional manager and oversees all the provincial managers in the southern part of the country which is really unnecessary.

The media department is also overstaffed. ZC employs more media personnel compared to any other ICC full member. Initially Lovemore Banda used to run the department but in 2006, ZC set up a website and two more journalists were hired. A magazine, which last published last October, was set up and another journalist was taken on board. While many would expect the media department to provide an efficient service, bungling has become the order of the day with scorecards for first class matches not being made available to the media on time despite the fact that the journalists are equipped with state of the art laptops.

While it might have been a brilliant idea to have a media department, ZC have hired journalists as a way of silencing critics. They have taken on board all the journalists who used to be critical of the organisation.
Sources say besides the four journalists, the media department has other employees and overally the department has about 20 employees.

Still on journalists, Zimbabwe Cricket have paid for journalists to go on tour with the Zimbabwe team and in return the journalists are expected to praise sing the team even if it is performing dismally.
ZC chairman Peter Chingoka is believed to be getting a salary despite the fact that his post is a voluntary one. In 2004, Chingoka was paid 50 000 Pounds for “his contribution to Zimbabwe Cricket”. At first, the issue of the payment was shrouded in secrecy but when pressure grew from the stakeholders, the minutes of the meeting where the ZC board approved the payment were suddenly made available.

That money could have been used for the betterment of the game.

In 2005, an employee in the marketing department defrauded Zimbabwe Cricket of US$75 000 in an advertising deal but for some strange reasons, she was let off the hook and has since resigned on her own will. When journalists got hold of the emails concerning the alleged fraud, they were threatened and told not to write about it.
ZC purchased an outside broadcast van in 2004 and while that might have been a fine idea, how much the van cost and who facilitated the transaction is still shrouded in mystery.