BY SPORTSCAST WRITER
HARARE – The much-awaited forensic audit report into the financial activities of the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) will be released to the public on Thursday amidst fervent expectation.
The drawn-out audit, whose findings could lay bare the full reasons behind the Zifa bosses’ sacking last year – a radical measure that resulted in an international ban on the southern African country – will be presented to the media in Harare on Thursday morning.
Zimbabwe’s Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC), a government department, in November 2021 fired the Zifa board on accusations of corruption, embezzlement of funds as well as sexual harassment of female match officials.
World football governing body Fifa, which is against what it deems “undue third-party interference” in the affairs of its member associations, reacted by suspending Zimbabwe from all forms of international football early this year.
Until the audit was complete, the SRC had been declining to bring back the sacked Zifa administrators into office, a condition for reinstatement by Fifa.
Last week Kenya, which was suspended at the same time as Zimbabwe, had its ban lifted after the East African’s government “fulfilled the conditions set out by the Fifa Council.”
