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This brings to five the number of Zifa board members who have been suspended in cases related to match-fixing.
Solomon Mugavazi, Kenny Marange and Methembe Ndlovu were suspended earlier this year after they were linked to the Asiagate scandal.
Banda and Hokonya’s suspension means that three of the four chairmen of the regions are now all on suspension with Eastern Region boss, Fungayi Chiguri, the only one still on the Zifa board.
A statement released by Zifa president Cuthbert Dube, shortly after a board meeting held last night, said the suspension was with immediate effect.
“Following the submission of the reports by the Zifa Referees’ Committee on allegations of match-fixing in the Central Region implicating Zifa board members, namely Messrs Patrick Hokonya and Gift Banda, the allegations must be investigated in keeping with Zifa Constitution Article 31.10,” said Dube.
“The two Zifa board members are suspended with immediate effect pending finalisation of the matter.”
Hokonya, the Central Region chairman and Banda, the Southern Region boss, were fingered in the corruption by suspended referee Cosmas Nyoni who alleged that they were key players in the scam which has already claimed the scalp of acting Zifa Referees’ Committee chairperson Samukeliso Silengane.
The two board members have made spirited denials to the allegations.
Banda has already filed criminal defamation charges against Nyoni, who was interviewed by police in Bulawayo this week.
Although full details of the board meeting were still sketchy last night, our Harare Bureau established that the fate of the two board members was put to a vote.
Nigel Munyati, the board member in charge of marketing, is reported to have abstained from voting.
The Zifa board members agreed that issues raised by Banda, questioning the credibility of Dube, were not related to the Central Region match-fixing scam and, therefore, could not be debated at the indaba.
Neither Hokonya nor Banda were immediately available for comment.
Hokonya and Banda plunged into the eye of the storm after they were fingered in the corruption scandal that rocked the Central Region and derailed the crowning of that Region’s Division One champions.
Zifa vice president, Ndumiso Gumede, who is leading the investigations into the scandal, said the details that have emerged so far have shown that it was bigger than Asiagate.
Hokonya and Banda were implicated by some of the referees who were handling matches in the Central Region.
The match officials allege that the pair were part of a clique of influential administrators known as the “Elders” who orchestrated a match-fixing scam in the title race that involved Hardbody and Tripple B.
Top Zifa referees, Albert Mbuse and Cosmas Nyoni, are the alleged masterminds behind the scandal as the duo were allegedly closely involved in the appointments of match officials who handled Hardbody and Tripple B’s matches.
Hokonya and Banda were implicated in written submissions and covertly recorded mobile phone conversations.
Another referee, Martin Shoko of Bulawayo, who had earlier been suspended under a cloud, claimed that the Central Region office had not acted on his match report.
He claimed he had been instructed by the match commissioner and Bulawayo province fixtures secretary, Milton Moyo, to influence the result of the match between Hardbody and FC Glow against the former on 16 October. Hardbody, however, went on to win 3-1.
“We arrived at the match venue Ascot Stadium at 2pm, by 2.15pm we inspected the field of play with my assistants Saidi, Chirwa and the match commissioner M Moyo before our warm-up.
“Commissioner Milton Moyo instructed me to make sure the away team FC Glow win or draw and if it is to lose not by a big margin.
“The match kicked off at 3pm. In the 12th minute I awarded Hardbody a penalty kick after an unfair challenge to C Maheya by T Maziwisa.
“In the 25th minute I awarded Hardbody a penalty kick after C Maheya was tripped in the penalty area by FC Glow defender.
“FC Glow players disputed my decision and I show (sic) S Marufu a yellow card for challenging my decision,” read part of Shoko’s report.
In the audio recordings, a copy of which is in the hands of our Harare Bureau, Bulawayo referee Albert Mbuse and Nyoni feature prominently as arrangements are made to fix the outcome of the matches involving Hardbody.
A Hardbody official, named as Takesure Sibanda, is also heard in the phone conversations telling Mbuse that they would pay him for biased officiating in their team’s favour.
derick.khumalo