adminreceiving threats of unspecified action following the publication of the Asiagate final report last week.
Moyo was the secretary of the four-member probe team that was tasked by Zifa to investigate allegations that Zimbabwe’s national teams were paid to lose matches on their visits to Asian countries between August 2007 and December 2009.
The former Warriors and Ziscosteel coach yesterday said he had been inundated by calls from people whom he claimed were accusing him of using the Asiagate report to tarnish the images of different officials, coaches, players and administrators.
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Moyo also indicated that he was also going to report to the Zimbabwe Republic Police about the threats he had received.
The probe team was headed by Zifa vice-president Ndumiso Gumede and also included the association’s board member finance Elliot Kasu and Eastern Region chairman Fungai Chihuri.
Moyo said he had also informed his boss on the investigating committee, Gumede about the threats he had received but insisted that his committee believe they had “done a good job to unearth the rot of match-fixing which was affecting our game.
“It is unfortunate that since the report was published in the public media, I have been receiving phone calls threatening me and I am now living in fear and actually contemplating going into hiding.
“Some of the people who have been calling have also threatened to go to the media on an offensive to tarnish my image.
“Although we may have had made some mistakes or omissions here and there in our investigations it must be understood that we addressed the fundamental question which was to establish whether or not games may have been fixed and how this affected the image of Zimbabwean football to the international world.
“We were operating with limited resources, using what we got from the Zifa president as well as our personal resources and we believe now that Fifa have availed funds to Interpol to fight match-fixing, the whole exercise will be taken to another level.
“What we did was unearthing something that was wrong with our football, chasara kuti munhu wese atore pick ne shovel and help us completely dig the rot so that match-fixing and betting do not return to haunt our football again.
“We also interviewed a cross section of people we believed could help us given our limited resources and we could not interview everyone we wanted to but we believe what we got helped us to establish that there was indeed a trend in what was happening at those matches,” Moyo said.
Moyo also urged the Zifa board to speedily implement their recommendation on the setting up of a disciplinary committee and an independent judicial commission that would provide the platform for the conclusion of the probe.
“We recommended that the disciplinary committee that would be set up by the board will provide those who have been implicated and are under the jurisdiction of Zifa with a chance to clear their names and those found guilty will be sanctioned.
“Likewise, the judicial commission will be competent to establish were there is criminal activity and prosecute such cases,” Moyo said.
The Gumede committee had also recommended that players who went on the various trips be severely reprimanded.
The Sport and Recreation Commission in endorsing the Asiagate report also took a similar stance and suggested to Zifa “to be lenient with the players and come down hard on the coaches and officials who would have been found guilty.”
While the local Asiagate probe is still to make much headway against the background of the sincerity of the report being questioned and a host of denials also being issued against it, the match-fixing scam in Turkey has widened beyond just the champions Fernerbahce.
Three Besiktas officials have been arrested after the net was widened in the match-fixing investigation that has rocked Turkish football.
Besiktas coach Tayfur Havutcu, deputy chairman Serdar Adali and club security chief Ahmet Ates were detained by Istanbul police on Thursday as part of the ongoing probe into allegations of match-fixing last season. Aziz Yildirim and Sadri Sener, the presidents of fellow Super Lig clubs Fenerbahce and Trabzonspor, respectively, have also been arrested, and national newspapers have reported that 26 people are already awaiting trial.
Fenerbahce won the league title last season after a remarkable end-of-season run of form saw Trabzonspor edged out on goal difference. Besiktas lifted the Turkish Cup after beating Buyuksehir in a penalty shoot-out in the final. According to various reports, two Buyuksehir players were also arrested on Thursday.
The Turkish Football Federation will wait for the outcome of any legal action before launching its own investigation, and both Fenerbahce and Besiktas are expected to remain in the draw for this season’s Champions League and Europa League, respectively.
“Given the information received so far by UEFA there is nothing according to the UEFA statutes or regulations that leads UEFA to refuse entry to any of the clubs currently involved in the investigations in Turkey,” read a statement from UEFA earlier this week.
Online Reporter