The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube Sports Correspondent
FOOTBALL world governing body Fifa has warned the beleaguered Zimbabwe Football Association of further sanctions if they fail to agree to a payment plan with former Warriors coach, Tom Saintfiet, whom they reportedly owe $150 000. Fifa wrote to Zifa on Wednesday informing them that without a payment plan agreed to with Saintfiet, the disciplinary process that has been set in motion against the country over the debt will not be halted.
Zifa had written to Fifa on Monday about the debt and had requested to submit a payment plan but the Fifa disciplinary committee deputy secretary Valerie Horyna advised Zifa in the letter that “the proceedings will follow their own course and will not be suspended as long as such a payment plan has not been agreed to between the parties”.
The warning follows last week’s decision by Fifa to expel Zimbabwe for the preliminary round of the 2018 Fifa World Cup to be held in Russia following Zifa failure to pay another former Warriors coach, Brazilian, Valinhos his dues that amount to $60 000.
Zifa had engaged Fifa seeking to avert another drastic decision being taken against the country but the world governing body urged Zifa to approach Saintfiet and that the disciplinary process could only be halted if Zifa’s proposed payment plan was agreeable to the nomadic Belgian.
The letter from Horyna, which is in possession of this publication reads in part: “A potential payment plan has to be agreed upon directly with the creditor, in the present case Tom Julianus Maria Saintfiet, which at his discretion can accept or reject the payment plan proposed. Should a payment plan be agreed upon and signed by the parties concerned, the ongoing disciplinary process will be declared suspended.”
Zifa spokesperson Xolisani Gwesela confirmed the development saying the association had set in motion, a process of engaging Saintfiet, whose legal representative is Adam Whyte, in order to present an agreeable payment process.
He, however, could not reveal how the payment plan would be structured.
Saintfiet obtained a writ of execution after being awarded $150 000 in damages after taking his case to Fifa. He coached the Warriors for just one day, during the 2012 Nations Cup qualifiers, but was deported from the country for working without a work permit.
The Belgian coach was smuggled into the Warriors coaching staff by the Cuthbert Dube-led board in 2010. He took charge of two training sessions for the Warriors in one day, in the week leading to a 2012 Nations Cup qualifier against Cape Verde at the National Sports Stadium.
He signed a deal to coach the Warriors for four years but his romance with the Warriors ended after just one day after he was deported for flouting the country’s immigration rules by working without a work permit.
Zifa are sinking in debts of more than $6 million amid writs of execution obtained by various creditors, a development that has seen the association lose some property that has been auctioned off to offset debts.
The situation has led to calls for the Cuthbert Dube-led Zifa board to resign.
