adminThis was question the Bulawayo Junior Soccer League and Mpala family of Mzilikazi were asking themselves after promising striker Brandon Mpambosi Mpala was thrown out of the Zimbabwe national Under-17 soccer team.
The team drew 2-2 at Gwanzura Stadium on Saturday against Mozambique as word from the terraces was that there were some cheats who had survived.
Following the player’s withdrawal from the team with three others on the eve of the match, with Zifa’s Benedict Moyo saying culprits behind that would be dealt with accordingly, Chronicle sought to get to the bottom of one of the cases.
The approach was two pronged.
The first was to establish the authencity of the testing machine using a Bulawayo specialist laboratory for that and also to check whether the player’s tests had not been tampered with within the national camp as stakes in selling players exposed by playing for junior national teams have gone high over the years.
The second approach was to verify whether records at Bulawayo Junior Soccer League, his hospital birth record, records at schools he attended and clubs that he has played for tally.
The first port of call was Mpilo Central Hospital where it was established that a baby boy was born to Dorcas Jekwa at 1700 hours on 26 March 1996.
The records disclosed he weighed 3,2kg at birth and has lived up to his big boy tag with Sisters Ndiweni and Manyika having assisted Doctor Museta during the delivery.His Mpilo record number is 69606.
The given address of the mother is still 2 Masiyephambili Flats in Mzilikazi where he still lives with his family. He is the third born child.
A visit to the Rabson Dlamini headed Mzilikazi Primary School, revealed that the boy was admitted as a student in 2002.
He finished his Grade Seven in 2008 and was in Grade 7C and his Zimsec Entry Number for the examinations was 0329.
His Grade Seven teacher Mathias Tshuma confirmed that the boy was in his class and was a good athlete and footballer who represented his school with distinction.
He even corroborated earlier evidence that in the same year Brandon had broken his hand and he had met the boy’s father for the first time then.
Results from the Bulawayo Junior Soccer League which has a zero tolerance for age-cheating disclosed that the boy was born on 26 March 1996. He played for Highlanders juniors under Dumaza Dube who said it was unfortunate that a player with so much promise and good physical built for further development had been disqualified.
“We know junior players, we have monitored all the boys in our league from primary school so we are shocked to hear that Brandon was thrown out of the national team. He is of the right age-group regardless of what the machine has detected. I had my reservations at first when I first worked with him in 2008, but after thorough investigations we were left with no doubt that he was just a kid who was in Grade Seven for that matter despite his height,” said Dube.
Information from sources at Sobukazi revealed that he is in Form Four.
After the search it was back to a second opinion with another MRI scan.
The second opinion disclosed that the player was born on 26 March 1996 and that there was no abnormality in his bone structure.
This throws into perspective two things– could the scanner have been defective in Harare or somebody played around the bunch of the x-rays and accommodated a player and sacrificed the Bulawayo boy because of his big build?
However, in the team that played there were some boys who looked bigger and older than him with some Harare junior club coaches adamant that there were some in the group who were much older and had changed surnames.
The boy’s father Waison Mpala was at loss for words.
He said he was disappointed that Zifa requested him to send $200 for a re-test in Harare only for them to deny the boy another test.
“I am surprised that after sending the $200, he was not tested and he was refunded the money. Testing here just cost me $35. I want to clear my son and family and all those who have been working with him and know he is not an age cheat. There are coaches like Dumaza and Methembe who have followed him they know the truth about him and even people from the neighbourhood and his schools. I agree with Zifa age-cheating is an evil that should be fought and my son is available for further tests,” said Mpala.
When contacted for comment Zifa board member responsible for development, Benedict Moyo said they would look into the case. He said their position was however that scientific testing was the best but in odd situations there was need for thorough investigations.
Mpala said he was ready to send results from a second test to Zifa and his son was prepared to be subjected to a third test to prove his innocence.
Online Reporter