Kirsty Coventry Scoffs At Suspended ZIFA Executives' Ultimatum
The Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister Kirsty Coventry is standing by her comments in Parliament last week after she was given a five-day ultimatum by suspended ZIFA board members calling on her to retract her remarks.
Coventry, a double Olympic swimming gold medallist and an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, told Parliament that US$2 million had been paid to ZIFA before the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals but the money was not accounted for.
She was explaining why members of ZIFA had been suspended by Zimbabweโs Sport and Recreation Committee (SRC). The official Parliamentary record Hansard recorded Coventry as saying:
The Government had given ZIFA about two million dollars that has never been accounted for, not FIFA money, but Zimbabwe money that Parliamentarians should want to know where it is gone. That was never accounted for.
Coventry also told Parliament that the suspended members had been accused of sexual assaults on four female referees.
ZIFA Board member for finance Philemon Machana, one of those under suspension, through his lawyers, disputed the claims of sexual assault and the US$2 million reportedly paid to ZIFA. Said Machana:
We have written to the Minister asking her to do the honourable thing by retracting her statements for the pain she has caused.
Failure to do so within five days will result in us serving her for proper legal procedures.
However, Coventry has refused to retract her remarks. Speaking to insidethegames on Wednesday, Coventry said:
Iโve made my position very clear in Parliament and have nothing further to add.
FIFA suspended Zimbabweโs membership in 2022 over government interference in ZIFA affairs and there have been calls from various football stakeholders for SRC to reinstate the suspended Felton Kamambo-led board as demanded by FIFA.
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