Age fraud continues unchecked

Petros Kausiyo
Sports Editor

Almost two years after Zimbabwe suffered the ignominy of being kicked out of the November 2020 COSAFA Under-17 competition in South Africa for using over-aged players, ZIFA’s ill-advised move to sweep the saga under the carpet has returned to embarrass the nation again.

The Young Warriors then had played just one game — drawing 1-1 against Angola — when they were thrown out after Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) tests found that a couple of players in the squad had falsely presented their ages.

Eswatini, Comoros and Botswana were also found guilty of the same offence and were sent packing.

Their disqualification meant the Young Warriors also missed out on the 2021 Africa Under-17 Cup of Nations in Morocco.

Despite calls by the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) for ZIFA to fully probe the issue, it has emerged that findings of an inquiry instituted by the Felton Kamambo board were never made public.

The scourge of age fraud, commonly known as age-cheating, has refused to go away.

In the latest incident, a noble initiative by Aston Villa midfielder Marvelous Nakamba to stage an invitational Under-17 tourney in Bulawayo last weekend was also blighted by the same controversy.

Dynamos juniors coach Lloyd Chigowe and his player Dylan Gumbe were fingered in the scam after their team was disqualified from the tournament.

Gumbe was identified as the age-cheat.

Some of the experts who spoke to The Sunday Mail Sport, while chiding ZIFA for not treating the matter with the seriousness it deserves, have also called for a holistic approach and punitive measures that would serve as a deterrent.

CAF administration instructor and former Highlanders chief executive officer Nhlanhla Dube said while age fraud was not only a Zimbabwean problem, custodians of the national game needed to be brave enough to root out the practice.

“It’s of course not peculiar to Zimbabwe and not new to us. We have a long history of the scourge in our country.

“We must be brave and tackle it because it stifles talent development on many levels,’’ Dube said.

“Youth development must not be about results, logs and winning at all costs. It must be about allowing children to play, to discover their talent and be guided, coached and nurtured into complete athletes and human beings who can go on to thrive competitively in any league anywhere.

“This is how we will grow our football and national sporting success and earn our pride.”

He said capturing kids into a national data bank through the Transfer Matching System (TMS) is a good starting point.

It is believed the multi-stakeholder task needs to rope in the civil registry, school system, academies, clubs, SRC and parents.

“As we recalibrate our football at this time of FIFA suspension, let us make this a big part of the agenda and do things correctly,” said Dube.

Acting ZIFA chief executive officer Xolisani Gwesela said the association will probe the latest scandal that rocked the Nakamba tourney.

“ZIFA take great exception to issues of corruption in football and has zero tolerance to age-cheating.

“We will investigate the scandal fully and leave no stone unturned.

“Age-cheating has no place in football and it is embarrassing that in this era we still have clubs being implicated.”

There are genuine fears age fraud could drive away potential sponsors of junior football and international scouts.

ZIFA technical director Wilson Mutekede said the findings of an inquiry instituted after the scandal that plagued the junior national football teams were neither publicised nor shared with the secretariat.

“The ZIFA board instituted an inquiry and there was a committee which sat at Pandari (Lodge) but very little has been done about it. Even the findings were not brought to the attention of the public nor the secretariat … Meaning there has been minimal commitment or progress in that area … But these age-cheating issues require policy at the top level,” he said.

Had action been taken in 2020, he added, such incidents were not likely to recur.

National teams’ general manager Wellington Mpandare, who together with Gwesela, and Mutekede were at the Nakamba tourney, criticised some coaches and administrators who believe in age fraud.

“It’s a pity that some coaches, club administrators and executives still believe in age-cheating; it doesn’t pay at all,’’Mpandare said.

“It is so sad and whoever is behind this must stop.

“I was very disappointed during the Marvelous Nakamba tournament where I discovered that some of the players, especially from Dynamos, were part of the COSAFA Under-17 that was booted out.

“We invested a lot money into that team, paying their daily allowances and upkeep and we bought tickets for them to fly to South Africa only for one player to fail the test.”

Mpandare also called for culprits to be arrested.

Ex-Dynamos coach Chigowe insists he was unaware that his player was over-aged.

“I did not have information except for the passport which was obtained in 2018 …  “What happens is boys want to play at all costs and will do everything to participate. In this particular instance, the boy called me when we had played against his team and requested to join to an extent that he accepted to be registered on FIFA CONNECT and, naturally, I trusted him.

“It is only when TD (Mutekede) disclosed during the tournament that I was taken aback.”