The Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) in partnership with the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) deliberated on areas of mutual interest and cooperation including the reconfiguration of the sport and recreation industry through the investigation of corruption in the sports sector.
The cooperation will also include the enforcement of the tenets of good corporate governance. The Chairperson of the Sports and Recreation Commission, Mr Gerald Nqobile Mlotshwa, together with his delegation, held an extremely productive meeting with the Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo and her team at ZACC offices on 10 February 2020.
It was agreed that the technical and investigative expertise of ZACC would be utilised in those areas involving the abuse of public funds by national sports associations and their office bearers.
The discussion also focused on areas of synergy particularly in relation to partnering on awareness initiatives to educate sport associations and their members on how to shun corruption and deal effectively with cases of corruption.
The meeting reiterated the need to use sport as a viable tool for disseminating anti-corruption messages in order to reduce incidences of financial malfeasance, the use of banned substances and unruly practices such as age cheating, amongst other concerns afflicting sport in Zimbabwe.
ZACC and SRC agreed upon the two officials from their respective organisations charged with the responsibility for the immediate and effective implementation of the foregoing areas of mutual concern.
This initiative resonates with the message delivered by the SRC Chairman during his address at the recently held Annual National Sports Awards where he unequivocally stated that the SRC being the governing body for sport and recreation was prepared to deal decisively with issues of poor corporate governance and corruption that had tainted the sector.
On the other hand, the SRC Chairman and Prosecutor-General, Mr. Kudzai Hodzi met at the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) headquarters today to discuss various issues of mutual concern in sports. The NPA will establish a specialist office for the prosecution of sports related offences. It is intended that once the agreed framework is in place, the designated prosecutor will work closely with the SRC, ZACC and the Zimbabwe Republic Police to weed out corruption in sports.