The Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) has finally
breathed a sigh of relief after efforts by a former employee, who had sought to
garnish its bank account over a US$518 331 debt, were thwarted by the High
Court on Wednesday last week.
On Monday last week, Zifa petitioned the High Court with an
urgent chamber application seeking to protect its funds held in its Ecobank
account after former administrator Lazarus Mhurushomana had engaged the sheriff
of the High to access the money.
Zifa argued that if execution of its bank account was to
proceed as scheduled on September 2, the football mother body would be
sanctioned by Fifa since the funds were specifically meant for development.
The matter was then determined by Justice Alpheus
Chitakunye, who ruled in favour of Zifa.
“The execution of the writ of execution in case number
HC5721/09 dated July 26, 2019 be and is hereby stayed. Each party shall bear
its own costs,” Justice Chitakunye ruled.
Prior to the determination of the matter, Zifa president
Felton Kamambo had filed an affidavit saying there were fears that
Mhurushomana’s action would also derail both the men’s and women’s national
soccer team matches that were set to be played in and outside Zimbabwe.
Mhurushomana’s move came about at a time when Zifa was
about to host the senior women national team’s international match against
Zambia on September 1, while the men’s national team was scheduled to play
Somalia in Djibouti on September 7 in a World Cup qualifier.
Kamambo had further argued that if the writ of execution
was allowed to stand, an illegality would have been perpetrated in that
Mhurushomana would have executed an order of the court without compliance with
the rules of the High Court.
Kamambo further said the writ obtained by Mhurushomana was
not lawful in that the first order against Zifa was granted on September 17,
2013, but the former administrator obtained the writ of execution on July 26,
2019. He added that Mhurushomana obtained another writ of execution in 2014, a
writ executed by the sheriff over the same judgment.
Zifa was represented by Chenaimoyo Gumiro. Newsday
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