‘Drop match-fixers’

Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
ALL players mentioned in the explosive match fixing scam that has rocked Zimbabwean football should be dropped from the Warriors’ team preparing for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Swaziland in Mbabane on Good Friday.

Friends of the Warriors president Lynn Green said excluding the named players would also protect them against an expected fans’ uprising in the event of the players making “genuine errors” during the match.

Friends of the Warriors is a supporters’ group that was formed during the tenure of Cuthbert Dube as Zifa president.

Defender Partson Jaure and goalkeepers Washington Arubi and Tatenda Mukuruva, who have been repeatedly mentioned in the matching-fixing allegations in which former Zifa chief executive officer Henrietta Rushwaya takes centre stage, are part of the 27-man squad called up by coach Callisto Pasuwa for the qualifier.

The scam has already claimed the scalps of Zifa executive committee member Edzai Kasinauyo and Warriors’ assistant coach Nation Dube. Former Warriors’ coach Ian Gorowa has also been named among the alleged match-fixing cartel.

Green, said just like Dube and Kasinauyo, the mentioned players’ sincerity cannot be trusted at the expense of the nation and they must be dropped from the squad.

“We believe these players are highly compromised and by including them in the team, we are worsening their situation. There is need to also play a protective role for now until they are totally vindicated and all reasonable doubt removed,” said Green.

“This is football, mistakes happen, but how many people will believe that it’s a genuine mistake? It’s like that Guinea howler by Arubi; few supporters would have forgiven him had the match-fixing scandal been exposed before that game, so we believe these boys should be excluded to protect them and the game,” Green said.

Last week Warriors manager Shariff Mussa told Chronicle Sport that Zifa did not ask Pasuwa to sanction the players, while the coach himself said the boys were only mentioned by the media.

Reports, however, say Arubi received regular payments of dirty money, including commitment fees, for the past two months, with Gorowa acting as the middleman.