The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) are still holding on to a Samsung Galaxy S7 consignment belonging to the Mighty Warriors and keep requesting more paperwork before they clear the handsets meant for the players.
The mobile handsets, which were availed to every athlete at the Olympics Games in Rio in August, were confiscated when they entered the country with Zimbabwe Olympic Committee officials as a single package.
Samsung Electronics distributed 12 500 mobile phones to all the 2016 Olympians.
But the Mighty Warriors missed out on collecting their phones at Samsung Galaxy Studio at the Olympics Village in Rio de Janeiro as individuals since they were based in Sao Paulo.
The Government has been involved in trying to facilitate the release of the phones but three months later it appears there is no solution in sight.
The revenue collector keeps demanding more paper work yet they were furnished with documentation from the International Olympics Committee that the gadgets were given to all the Olympians because of a partnership between the IOC and Samsung.
Yesterday, Sports Commission acting director-general Joseph Muchechetere said they were still in the process of satisfying the needs of ZIMRA. Muchechetere last month had assured the players that the phones were going to be released soon.
The Mighty Warriors are preparing to go to Cameroon for the Africa Women Cup of Nations Cup which begins on November 19.
“We are still in the process of satisfying the needs of ZIMRA. We are getting confirmation from Rio, IOC, Samsung as well as ZOC.
“We are coming in as SRC as a link and we should also be able to confirm the position but this thing is going forth and backwards.
“We have provided the information to the Ministry of Finance possibly they will approve and hoping it will materialise on our side. The information we have supplied now, we should be in a position to get positive feedback,” said Muchechetere.
The players’ morale in camp is low amid concerns that there are lot of unfilled promises to the women’s soccer team. The players only received $500 from ZOC for their historic participation at the Olympics.
The players thought the handsets, which are priced at about $700 on the local market, would come in handly for them. The Mighty Warriors lost 0-3 to South Africa in a friendly international on Thursday. The Herald
