Zimbabwe board denies links with media company

Zimbabwe Cricket has denied recent allegations that it has links with a media company.

An article in The Zimbabwean claimed that ZC officials had bought Tatu Media Productions and were using the firm to personally gain from contracts with the board.

It was stated that several ZC officials were also shareholders and directors of Tatu, but Lovemore Banda, the board's media manager, told Cricinfo that no such relationships existed.

"Zimbabwe Cricket has not acquired Tatu Multimedia Productions," he said. "We cannot afford to spend US$500 000 on activities which are not our core business which is the running of cricket in the country. Surely if that much money was used on a single project in any ZC financial year, it would scream out to the auditors."

With regards to claims that ZC's media departments had worked out of Tatu offices and that inflated invoices had been paid by the board. Banda was equally forthright.

"Anyone privy to the correspondence between the ZC finance department and Tatu's billing desk would tell you that there were instances when the ZC finance department queried certain invoices and then paid subsequent to satisfactory explanation.

"Such is the distinction between ZC and Tatu that when the ZC media department went to the Tatu premises, it was strictly as a tenant. The ZC media department was not incorporated into Tatu but remained a ZC office housed in a Tatu building and reporting to ZC. You may also want to know that, contrary to the perception you have of the ZC media department, it makes sense for us to employ full-time personnel than to rely on consultants."