Zimbabwe Cricket Board suspended over corruption allegations

What's the story?

The Zimbabwe Cricket Board, known as Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) has been suspended by the sports department of Zimbabwe Government. This department keeps a check over the sporting activities taking place in the country and they handed the cricket board a suspension after corruption allegations.

In case you didn't know...

Since the turn of the decade, Zimbabwe Cricket has always been in the news for the wrong reasons. The cricket board was involved in a controversy where they were facing difficulty in paying their players and staff members. And now, the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) has alleged that the board made misuse of money. SRC is a state-owned enterprise which reports to the sports ministry of the country.

The heart of the matter

BREAKING: Sports and Recreation Commission suspends Zimbabwe Cricket Board pic.twitter.com/cHbeHZRWV2

— Trevor Ncube (@TrevorNcube) June 21, 2019

According to the report, the SRC banned Zimbabwe Cricket's acting managing director Givemore Makoni from his position.

SRC had issued a notice to ZC over the latter's electoral process. The commission ordered the cricket board not to hold the elections but the board defied their order and elected Tavengwa Mukuhlani as the next chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket for the next 4 years. This led to a conflict between the two organizations and ultimately, the SRC released the following statement:

"It cannot be in national interest that a national sporting association continues to conduct itself in a manner that it suggests that it and its officials are a law unto themselves. Certain of its office bearers, past and present, have been the subject matter of allegations involving fraud exchange control violations and other acts of corruption and criminality related to the monies and assets of Zimbabwe Cricket and the International Cricket Council."

On the other hand, the board chairman Mukuhlani said that the suspension was not in accordance with the constitution of Zimbabwe Cricket or SRC's rules.

What's next?

An interim committee which includes David Ellman-Brown, Ahmed Ibrahim, Charlie Robertson, Cyprian Mandenge, Robertson Chinyengetere, Sekesai Nhokwara and Duncan Frost has been formed to run cricket in the country.

The Zimbabwe Cricket Team is currently playing a limited overs series versus the Netherlands.