Mashonaland representatives who proposed a no-confidence vote against Zimbabwe Cricket chairperson Peter Chingoka and the board were threatened with legal action by Chingoka on Thursday.
Cyrian Mandege, who said he is a board member and spokesperson for the Mashonaland Cricket Association, the country’s biggest province, and Claudius Mukandiwa, who said he represents the Mashonaland clubs, claimed Zimbabwe Cricket acted unconstitutionally in renaming itself, and wasted money without proper consultation.
They addressed two international journalists and about 15 local ones at a media conference on Thursday, and said they will call a special meeting to propose a motion of no confidence in Chingoka and the board.
But Chingoka said in a statement that lawyers will examine whether their conduct was actionable, and whether to suspend the two men in terms of the country’s labour laws.
”We will not hesitate to invoke such procedures as are necessary to protect the image of the game,” he said.
Mandege and Mukandiwa claimed the Zimbabwe Cricket board acted unconstitutionally in rebranding the Zimbabwe Cricket Union to Zimbabwe Cricket without consulting stakeholders, who included provincial chairpersons. The move, claimed Mandege, cost Z$800-million.
Mandege complained that the money could have been better spent on cricket development.
”Yet players and umpires’ fees have been drastically reduced and players are being made to sleep in brothels.”
Challenged about the brothels claim, Mandege named two in Harare and one in Mutare, the main city of Manicaland province.
At the conference, Mandege claimed Mashonaland chairperson Tavengwa Mukhlani has resigned from the Zimbabwe board ”with immediate effect” and the Mashonaland Cricket Association will pull out of all cricket run by the national body, confining itself to its own club league.
That would mean little or no first-class domestic cricket in Zimbabwe. This weekend’s national league matches have been postponed indefinitely.
Chingoka admitted in a letter to provincial chairpersons and the board members that ”communication on this exercise could have been better than it was”. They had apparently complained about procedural lapses.
”On your question about proper procedures not being followed, I apologise for the delay in regularising the matter due to time constraints. It was done in the best of faith and in the heat of the moment,” said Chingoka’s statement.
It had been done in haste, he said, to take advantage of the England tour for marketing activities.
Chingoka said then that he accepted a recommendation that ”we proceed with using Zimbabwe Cricket as a trade name without amending the constitution at this time. The matter will be reviewed in the near future.”
He disputed the estimated cost put forward by Mandege and Mukandiwa, stating it was in fact Z$195-million.
Chingoka also claimed they had no mandate to call a media conference. He pointed out that the Mashonaland chairperson and senior board members were not present. — Sapa-AP