adminThe use of the Caf-approved Mandava Stadium hung in the balance after the match commissioner for the FC Platinum/Green Mamba of Swaziland match, Gaspard Kayijuka, wrote to Caf and said the facility should not be used for future continental matches as there was no suitable accommodation in Zvishavane with visiting teams staying 90km away in
Masvingo. The Angolan match commissioner further highlighted that the venue and Masvingo were more than the prescribed 200km from the capital.
However, Zifa chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze said the official position from Zifa was that the match, set for the weekend of 23-25 March, will be staged at Mandava Stadium.
“Caf are yet to respond to our appeal but I am confident that the match will be played in the Midlands. We have engaged FC Platinum and briefed them and they seem to be agreeable to the Caf requirements that a plane has to be chartered for the visitors,” said Mashingaidze.
He said the Sudanese seemed to be playing hard to get by totally refusing to fly via Johannesburg in South Africa and then connect to Bulawayo where they would then drive to Zvishavane, which is about 190km away — still within the permissible distance of 200km.
FC Platinum have since asked Zifa to engage, on their behalf, the Air Force of Zimbabwe so that they could charter a plane from them.
However, by yesterday Zifa were yet to get a response from the Air Force.y.
“We did send a request to the Air Force but they are yet to respond. Maybe by tomorrow we could be in a better position,” said communications manager for Zifa, Nicky Dlamini-Moyo.
An official of the national airliner, Air Zimbabwe, said they were offering their MA60 planes which carry a maximum of 52 passengers although she was not sure how much it would cost to charter a plane from the capital to Bulawayo.
“I do not even know whether such a plane can land in Masvingo but if you leave us with your details, our guys from the charter department will get in touch with you tomorrow as they have since knocked off today,” she said from the Air Zimbabwe head office in Harare yesterday.
The Sudanese champions are not new to Zimbabwe after being drawn and knocking out Highlanders in 2008. FC Platinum will want to utilise their home advantage so as to carry a healthy lead in the reverse fixture two weeks later.
The other advantage for the Rahman Gumbo-coached side is that the Sudanese national league is only three weeks old although their opponents have only lost just one match from three, ironically a 1-0 defeat to Al Amal Atbara, who happen to be Hwange’s next opponents in the Caf Confederations Cup.
On Saturday El Merreikh pummelled Al Rabta Kosti 6-0.
Online Reporter