Eddie Chikamhi, Sports Reporter
LAWYERS representing LED Travel and Tours insist that ZIFA properties, which include their two offices in Harare and Bulawayo, will go under the hammer if the football association does not come up with an action backed payment plan by next Friday.
LED Travel and Tours through their lawyers Nyakutombwa Mugabe Legal Counsel recently obtained a High Court order to attach the properties which include the Zifa House which is the embattled association’s headquarters at 53 Livingstone Avenue in Harare, their provincial offices in Bulawayo and a residential house in Harare, after the soccer mother body defaulted in servicing long-standing debts.
It was earlier reported that the properties were being attached over a debt of $90,306.04 but the company’s lawyer Philip Nyakutombwa yesterday revealed that the football body owed their client another amount of $209, 460.92 from 2012.
Nyakutombwa said the association now owes their client around $340 000 in total including interests and other legal costs. He said they were frustrated by the silence from the football mother body despite numerous attempts to engage them. Zifahad undertaken to start servicing the debts from January 31 this year.
The properties are now set to be auctioned next Friday. Zifa have said that it is not possible to attach the properties since they were registered under a separate entity called Zifa Private Limited and not the association. Zifa Private Limited are expected to make an urgent High Court application to stop the sale.
Nyakutombwa said they had given Zifa enough time but the association was not forthcoming hence the decision to seek a court order to attach the properties.
“As far as things stand, a notification of sale has been issued and that is the position at the moment. The house will be auctioned if we do not find common understanding with Zifa.
“But as is the normal procedure we are expecting an urgent application to be filed at the courts by the Zifa Private Limited,” said Nyakutombwa.
“All along, we have been deliberately trying to avoid the execution against Zifa property because we know the organisation we are dealing with. We know their status, they have no money. Actually that is the reason why it has taken so long.
“Our client has been so patient because he has a passion for the game. That is why he agreed to become the guarantor in the case involving FBC and BancABC in the understanding that Zifa would pay the debts.
“In the other case where LED Car Hire advanced money for tickets and bus and car hire for the Warriors, he even went as far as giving them a 50 percent discount to encourage them to come forward but Zifa have not made any efforts to settle the debts.
“We read from your story last week one of the senior Zifa officials (Jonathan Mashingaidze) saying they were going to engage us but I can tell you that up to now no one at Zifa has made an attempt to communicate with us.
“Whether they are ignoring or not, we don’t know. We are just waiting for the day (of the auction) and then see what happens next,” said Nyakutombwa.
A close source yesterday said the association cannot hide behind the claims that the assets belonged to Zifa Private Limited who hold the title deeds to the properties.
“They cannot hide behind the logic that the properties belong to Zifa Private Limited, which they claim is a separate entity from the association yet these are properties that we know are beneficial to Zifa. That is why the house in Bulawayo was once attached by CBZ Holdings.
“The motive behind the formation of this company is clear that it’s a way of trying to run away from their creditors. They want to set a bad precedence.
“The directors themselves are former Zifa Board Members who were handpicked to sit on the company’s board. But they still use the name Zifa.
They have to prove they have nothing to do with the association,” said the source.
LED Travel and Tours is a company owned by former Zifa board member finance, Bernard Gwarada.
According to court documents, LED Travel and Tours secured a court order in 2012 for the sum of US$209, 460. 92 together with interest and costs under case number 4623/12.
The debt was for car and bus rentals amounting to US$141, 984.92 and air tickets for the Warriors valued at US$67, 467.
The other debt emanated from an agreement between Zifa and Led Travel and Tours for the company to borrow money from BancABC and FBC Bank on behalf of the association to finance the Warriors’ Fifa 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign.
The loans which amounted to US$90 000 were to cover the cost of the air tickets, with the Zifa Trust underwriting the transaction and the former chairman of the Trust, Tshinga Dube, providing the security.
LED Travel and Tours had their properties attached over the debts to the banks after Zifa reneged on their promise.
“We were given several undertakings to service the debts but nothing happened and we have come to a stage where a writ of execution is the final resort,” said Nyakutombwa.