Asiagate names tomorrow

Independent Ethics Committee, the Zifa board adjourned yesterday to allow some of its members to pursue their other busi­ness commitments.
The board is expected to reconvene soon to continue debating on the recom­mendations made by the Ebrahim com­mittee on how to deal with the culprits of the match-fixing scam that dragged local football into the abyss following controversial trips by various national teams to the Far East between 2007 and 2009.
Zifa president Cuthbert Dube emerged from yesterday’s marathon board meeting to announce that they would reveal the names of those deemed to have been the Asiagate bigwigs tomorrow.
The Ebrahim committee has recom­mended life bans for 13 individuals they believe were the masterminds of the Asia­gate syndicate linked to jailed Singa­porean Wilson Raj Perumal.
Dube said his board had resolved to take their time to go through the Ebrahim report and deal with it in sections, start­ing with those which the retired Supreme Court judge had recommended should be slapped with life bans from all football-related activities.
The Zifa president said after going into the early hours of yesterday deliberating and sifting through the Ebrahim report, they had appreciated why the Indepen­dent Ethics Committee had taken nearly a year to compile the document “as it is thorough’’.
“We started with the most serious aspect of the report, which is the recom­mendation for life bans and we are deal­ing with it on a case by case and section by section basis.
“We do not want to take chances and after deliberating on the life bans, the next stage is the 10 years then we will go down to the recommendations for the five-year bans, two years, one year in that order.
“So we are not going to take another 11 months like the committee did but it must be noted that from the moment  we received the report we went into a ses­sion to read through and start debate on it.
“We slept at 3am and by 10am were back in session discussing the report.
“After Friday (tomorrow) we have to find time again as a board to meet because this is something that cannot be done over the phone, we need thor­ough brainstorming and arguments before we make our own resolutions,’’ Dube said.
Dube reiterated that his board was also bracing for litigation and “all forms of fights’’ from those named as guilty and slapped with different sanctions.
“We realise how sensitive this report is and we have tightened security around and no board member is being allowed to carry the report on him outside the boardroom.
“After each discussion, the report files are locked up in a strong room.
“We also know that the accused will be looking for any loopholes to exploit because they will not go down without a fight but we are ready too.
“The question is not just whether peo­ple are guilty or not but whether one saw a dirty act and kept quiet,’’ Dube said.
Former Zifa president Wellington Nyatanga, ex-chief executive Henrietta Rushwaya, the association’s former pro­grammes officer Jonathan Musavangena and the suspended trio of Zifa second vice president Kenny Marange and board members Methembe Ndlovu and Solomon Mugavazi are among the top administrators in the line of fire.
Veteran coach Sunday Chidzambwa, former Warriors manager Ernest Sibanda, and a host of players including Method Mwanjali, Thomas Sweswe and former CAPS United goalkeeper Edmore Sibanda will also know their fate in the next few weeks as Zifa bring to a close the sad Asi­agate chapter that has tainted the image of the national game and left its structures deeply polarised.