Chingoka steps down as Zimbabwe Cricket chairman

Peter Chingoka has stepped down as chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket and as a board member, following the recent financial controversies involving the cricket board and the national players' salaries. He had headed the cricket board since 1992, when Zimbabwe played its first Test. He became a target of a player strike in 2005, when certain cricketers refused to play till he quit the position. Chingoka was re-elected as chairman in April 2011.

Chingoka stepped down at the board meeting in which ZC had also announced changes to the captaincy and coaching structure. Wilson Manase, who was vice-chairman for four years, will take over from Chingoka. Maureen Kuchocha was named the vice-chairperson, in recognition of the steps taken in women's cricket and the need for gender balance. However, ZC has yet to set a date for the election of a new chairman and until then, Manase will fill in in an interim basis.

According to a ZC press release, Chingoka said his decision was based on the need to have a well-defined succession plan in which it had been agreed that a year before his term he would step down and assist the incoming chairman. He has also made himself available to undertake missions assigned by the board, on request.

The resignation also follows the controversy involving the board's top leadership, who apparently used a $6 million loan from the ICC to enrich a bank on whose board they sit and ignored a key condition of the loan. Chingoka, Manase and former managing director Ozias Bvute all sit on the board of Metbank, one of Zimbabwe's leading banks.

ZC said the main purpose for the ICC loan was to service the current facilities with local banks so that it could borrow again but the plan was upset by the status of the financial market. Chingoka also said it was "wrong and malicious" to allege loss of money when Metbank themselves were owed the most amount of money.