(UDHAYAM, COLOMBO) – Zimbabwe Cricket suggested that it is in the process of turning a significant corner with the announcement on Thursday (March 13) that former ICC chief financial officer Faisal Hasnain is due to come on board as its new managing director.
Hasnain, who spent 12 years working for the ICC in two separate stints, will take over from Wilfred Mukondiwa when the current managing director retires on June 14. The news comes in the same week that ZC revealed it would be cutting the salaries of many administrative staff in a bid to live within its means.
Having worked closely with ZC during his time at the ICC, Hasnain will have a firm understanding of ZC’s financial problems as well as ideas on how to solve them. The Pakistani was part of an ICC delegation in 2014 that put together a bailout plan for ZC, who have been crippled by high-interest debts for more than a decade.
The delegation, led by Dave Richardson and Hasnain, put together a financial package in which they renegotiated ZC’s loans with local banks and devised an ICC loan package that would have taken ZC back into a positive financial position by 2016. However the plans were never implemented because the ICC insisted on the installation of an independent director who would oversee the process, and ZC objected.
Cricket in Zimbabwe has limped along in the intervening years. Instead of returning to the red in 2016, ZC held a debt of close to $20 million midway through the year. Overcoming that debt, and the interest burden it brings with it, will be Hasnain’s first challenge when he takes up the job in June.
Mukondiwa has been in the managing director’s post since taking over from Ozias Bvute in 2012, but has been with ZC since 2003. He inherited the majority of the debt problem when he was promoted five years ago, and has been unable to solve it.
“On behalf of the ZC board and the entire organisation, I would like to acknowledge Mr Mukondiwa’s invaluable contributions to the game of cricket, in particular his leadership during a challenging period for both the organisation and the country,” ZC chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani said.
“While we regret losing Mr Mukondiwa’s active leadership and guidance, the board is pleased to appoint Mr Hasnain to the role of managing director. We believe his impressive resume, experience and desire to succeed equip him well for the challenges ahead, and we are confident that he will build upon the strong foundation that Mr Mukondiwa is leaving.”
As well as his knowledge of ZC’s financial issues, Hasnain will bring his connections with other cricket boards, whom he dealt with extensively at the ICC. Given the political infighting that has hampered Zimbabwe cricket over the years, he will also bring a welcome independence and should improve ZC’s reputation at a crucial time in world cricket.
His appointment suggests that ZC are genuinely intent on improving their situation – as does the announcement on Monday that salaries within the organisation are being cut.
“Management recommended to the board that we reduce salaries by between 10 and 30%,” Mukuhlani told NewsDay, a local newspaper. “We had a budget deficit of $2,9 million, so the board said that there would be no more borrowing. We can’t continue to borrow to pay salaries, that is not sustainable. So since the board said there would be no more borrowing, management decided to come up with different measures and adjustments and salary cuts is one of them. The players will not be affected.”
