Zimbabwe Board to be suspended?

[brockley]

Th article suggests Scotland could replace them.
That said I heard the Intercontintal cup sacked but the Pepsi League may continue.Been doing the rounds for a while,especially with the Associate's cut for India to take the money.

 

[Prince EWS]

"Tear it down and start again with a different board" could be a viable solution if not for all the deference the ICC constitution gives to national governments. The ICC is a private group so it could call whatever body it liked the representative of the Zimbabwe international team in its own structure, but I believe its own constitution would get in the way if the diabolical Zimbabwean government didn't sign off on the group they picked (and, well..).

I think they could suspend them and replace them temporarily with an ICC committee, but they couldn't hand it off to another group forged from ex-players and grassroots administrators in Zimbabwe, which is really the only long-term solution with a snowball's chance (short of overthrowing the government, which I don't suspect they're too keen on).

 

[fredfertang]

Why did Jarvis and Taylor go back?

 

[TheJediBrah]

I genuinely don't have a solution to this - but I just offer this: these guys running Zimbabwe Cricket have already used ICC money to enrich themselves, and have already refused to co-operate with the ICC. Domestic cricket in Zimbabwe is already dying under their watch. Mass exodus of talent has already occurred under their watch. What do we hope to accomplish by continuing to give them money? Do we genuinely feel they will turn things around? Can that 80 million USD be put to better use?

I don't have the answer, I just lean more towards cut these guys out and focus on some other nations.

Give it to Trump's new Space Force. No point helping Zimbabwe cricket if the whole world is just going to be destroyed by Aliens.

 

[Prince EWS]

Why did Jarvis and Taylor go back?

A mix of homesickness, an impending World Cup (and qualification period) and a tiny glimmer of hope at the time with a couple of people actually being paid and some decent coaches having joined on.

 

[cnerd123]

"Tear it down and start again with a different board" could be a viable solution if not for all the deference the ICC constitution gives to national governments. The ICC is a private group so it could call whatever body it liked the representative of the Zimbabwe international team in its own structure, but I believe its own constitution would get in the way if the diabolical Zimbabwean government didn't sign off on the group they picked (and, well..).

I think they could suspend them and replace them temporarily with an ICC committee, but they couldn't hand it off to another group forged from ex-players and grassroots administrators in Zimbabwe, which is really the only long-term solution with a snowball's chance (short of overthrowing the government, which I don't suspect they're too keen on).

Maybe ICC revokes their membership and all funding, and waits for Bvute, Chingoka etc to lose interest (since there is no money in it anymore) and move on. Hopefully Zimbabwean Cricket is kept alive sorely by passionate volunteers in the meanwhile, and once it's clear that the ZCB is free of outside corrupt influences, bring that passionate volunteer administration back into the fold as an Associate and let themselves work their way up the ranks.

At some point the corrupt govt will once again get their claws into it, it's inevitable, but at that point they just stay at whatever level they are at and don't proceed until they can meet ICC governance criteria.

 

[Daemon]

So I was just reading through what's been happening in Zim cricket over the last few years again, just to make sure my own recollection of events is correct. Apart from political and economic unrest in the country (completely out of ZCB's hands), there has been serious financial mismanagement, basically corruption, via Peter Chingoka (former ZCB president) and Ozais Bvute (current ZCB president)

This happened in 2014:

Zimbabwe Cricket mismanaged ICC loan | Cricket | ESPNcricinfo

It's a long article, but the nuts and bolts of it are this: Chingoka, Bvute and Wison Manase (then ZCB vice president, who received a 4 year ban on sports administration from the Zimbabwe Sports and Recreation Council for proceeding with the Zim tour of Pak in 2015) all sit on the board of directors of this bank called Metbank. They took out massive loans to finance ZCB from Metbank at extremely high interest rates - interest rates far higher than what the ICC was willing to loan them money on. In the meanwhile, ZCB cricket went from 10 million USD in assets as of 2002, to 19 million USD in debt as of 2012.

The ICC then loaned 6 million USD to ZCB on the condition that this goes directly to servicing this debt. What these men did was put that money into a non-interest-bearing account in Metbank for 5 months -all the while being charged 20-24% interest on their existing Metbank loan- before slowly paying off parts of the loan in small installments. They received the 6 million USD on 14 December 2011, they finished paying Metbank on 25th May 2012. It was estimated that as a result of this, ZCB incurred an additional USD 300,000 in debt while Metbank profited by about 600,000 USD.

So they basically used ZCB to enrich a company they were directly affiliated with. They then had the gall to seek a second 3 million USD loan from the ICC, in order to pay salaries to people they owed.

So then this happened:

Zimbabwe Cricket turns down proposed ICC bail-out | Cricket | ESPNcricinfo

The ICC basically offered to pay off all ZCB's debts, in exchange for ZCB restructuring it's administration

No surprises, Chingoka, Bvute and Manase all refused.

Eventually, in 2014, peter Chingoka stood down as President. Two months later he was named as 'Honorary Life President' Bvute took over his place and has been in charge since. I cannot find if Wilson Manase currently holds any role in ZC cricket.

In the meanwhile, ZCB have continued to fail to pay players and staff, and domestic cricket has suffered as a result:
ZC postpones domestic cricket amid cash shortage - ESPNcricinfo


One of their officials tried to get Graeme Cremer to fix a game, and an administrator straight up refused to co-operate with an ICC Anti Corruption investigation:
ICC suspends Zimbabwe official for 20 years - ESPNcricinfo
Another Zimbabwe cricket official charged with breaching ICC Anti-Corruption Code - ESPNcricinfo


It seems all this mismanagement was put on the backburner once Chingoka made the gesture of stepping down, and when ZCB put it sights on hosting the World Cup Qualifiers. However, now that's done and dusted, the same people are still running cricket, people still aren't getting paid, and they still have the loans they owe to the ICC and the other 19 million USD of debt that hasn't even had a dent made on it yet.

It's all very sad.

Yeah the COI loan business was awful stuff. I recall reading about it way before 2014 though for some reason. Had no idea they're still part of ZC, that's insane. There's a government inquiry and they're going to do a forensic audit of ZC's finances so hopefully those involved are punished. https://www.pressreader.com/zimbabwe/the-herald-zimbabwe/20180509/281883003975580 (fat chance)

That's the reason I said the ICC needs to eradicate these guys and strong arm them guys out if there's to be any hope. They'll probably be replaced by equally ****ed individuals though.

So sad.

 

[jimmy101]

Well, Chiggers Chigumbura is back in the squad, at the expense of pretty much all of Zimbabwe's A-grade talent. Yay.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Zimbabwe needs some Freedom IMO. Time to install a new leader. They have any oil?

 

[cnerd123]

https://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/103347/icc-confirms-release-of-funds-to-zimbabwe-cricket

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has confirmed the release of funds to Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) in order to enable the cash-strapped board to clear the outstanding dues owed to its players and staff.

The confirmation of the release of payment from the apex body came through a ZC media release on Saturday (July 28) and is a part of ICC's controlled funding payment plan, the full details of which are yet to be finalised.

"Payment plan proposals will be discussed and communicated to all outstanding creditors once this process has been concluded," the release said. "This brings welcome relief to the current staff and players and is the first step in the recovery process of cricket in Zimbabwe to its former health and strength."

Zimbabwe were forced to play two of their most recent series - a T20I tri-series involving Pakistan and Australia, followed by an ODI series against the former - without five of their key players, who made themselves unavailable for selection after ZC failed to meet the June 25 deadline, the players had set to clear the dues. The players were owed two months' salary while their match fees has been outstanding since 2017.

Zimbabwe would now be hopeful of being able to field a full-strength side again in the thier next international assignment - a limited-overs tour of South Africa starting late September.

 

[cnerd123]

Heath Streak applies for Zimbabwe Cricket to be dissolved - ESPNcricinfo

Former Zimbabwe coach Heath Streak has submitted a court application asking for Zimbabwe Cricket to be liquidated in order for the board to pay its debts. The eight-page document, seen by ESPNcricinfo, was submitted to the High Court in Harare on September 20.

In his application, Streak lists the monies owed to him and other members of his coaching staff, who were all dismissed following their failed World Cup qualifying campaign in March. He accuses ZC of "illegally" terminating their contracts and claims the organisation is being run in a "reckless and negligent manner," and that it should be declared insolvent.

...

In the court application, drafted by Gerald Mlotshwa, the same lawyer who was assisting Zimbabwe's players in setting up an association earlier in the year, Streak writes that he believes ZC's board of directors has "run the organisation in a reckless and negligent manner, mismanaged loans and grants that were advanced to it by the International Cricket Council and failed to make meaningful repayments." He has named Winsley Malitala as a provisional liquidator, to oversee the dissolution of ZC.

This action was taken despite the developments that followed the ICC's annual conference in July, when ZC was placed on a payment plan to ensure a drip-feed of funds into the system in order to restructure the board's debt. Since entering into the deal with the ICC, ZC paid outstanding player salaries and trimmed its staff.

ESPNcricinfo also learned that ZC could face more legal action in addition to Streak's case, should it be successful. Further applications could compel Zimbabwe's Sports and Recreation Committee to take disciplinary action against ZC if the board is declared insolvent, while another case may be filed to compel the SRC to release the results of a ZC audit. But the liquidation case will need to be completed for these applications to be considered. Sources told ESPNcricinfo they expect the matter to be heard next month.