Suspended Zifa board members' lawyers give Ministe...

Suspended Zifa board members' lawyers give Minister Kirsty Coventry given ultimatum to retract "defamatory" statements

I found out on TV that I was minister' – Former swimmer Kirsty Coventry in at deep end to tackle crisis in Zimbabwe — Minister Kirsty Coventry

Audrey Galawu

Youth, Sports, Arts and Culture Minister has been given an ultimatum to retract alleged defamatory remarks she to Parliament against five suspended Zimbabwe Football Association members.

Rubaya and Chatambudza Legal Practitioners, in a letter addressed to Coventry said the Minister deliberately made false remarks targeting Felton Kamambo, Philemon Machana, Brighton Malandule, Stanley Chapeta and Joseph Mamutse.

“It has come to our clients’ attention that you made several defamatory, false and damaging remarks on Wednesday, March 29, 2023 during the Question-and-Answer in a Parliament of Zimbabwe session. What you said during that session is captured on video and several publications, including the Parliament Hansard.

“With all due respect, Honourable Minister, you deliberately and brazenly misrepresented facts in Parliament through falsely uttering words to the following effect. For clarity, the reasons the Sports and Recreation Commission stepped in and suspended the board were three.

“The first was that the government had given ZIFA about US$2 million that has never been accounted for. Secondly, four female referees have come forward and given their statements to police and they have been investigated. Three of those members were on the board. One of the members has already received a lifetime ban from Zifa.

“You uttered the statements regarding the alleged US$2 million knowing fully well that during the period when our clients were in active football leadership, the government of Zimbabwe never gave Zifa an amount of US$2 million.

“You knew very well that the government only gave the Zifa the sum of US$53 000 and that the said amount was fully acquitted at the material time in 2019.

“Our clients also affirm that your other utterances regarding the alleged investigations as a result of reports by four female officials, purportedly for their alleged abuse were also manifestly undoubtedly false,” reads the letter.

The legal practitioners said that the Minister made the remarks to portray the suspended members as people who sexually abuse women to deny them leadership positions.

"We are instructed that you knew very well that there were no three board members who were ever accused of sexual abuse of female referees let alone prosecuted and convicted of sexual abuse and/or rape," Rubaya and Chatambudza Legal Practitioners added.