‘Help us nail these criminals’

panel that they were looking for assistance “to help us nail these criminals.”
Such a position, from a committee that was supposed to handle its task with impartiality, came as a huge shock, given that it defeated the whole purpose of my testimony and submission.

The recording that I have of my interview with the committee, led by Zifa vice-chairman Ndumiso Gumede, shows a panel that had already reached its conclusion and was just going through the motions of interviewing people to buttress their position.
Interestingly, while I recorded my appearance before the committee, the investigating team did not see the value of recorded material, despite the sensitivity of the case, and relied on handwritten notes from secretary Benedict Moyo.

Inevitably, we now have a situation where those called in for oral interviews are now disputing what is in the final Asiagate report, saying that it is not a true representative of their submissions.
Given that a correct recording of evidence is the primary function, in gathering the correct information to enable the committee to arrive to a fair conclusion, its primitive approach towards this key element renders the exercise virtually null and void.

Questions also emerge about how others, who were invited to testify, were questioned given my experience clearly shows there was a clear motive, by the interviewing panel, to lead those who were being questioned in a certain direction.
After all, criminals had already been found and they needed to be nailed.

In the past two days I have been going through the recorded material of my appearance before that committee and what has struck me is that the panel had the audacity to say they wanted assistance to “help us nail these criminals” even while they were still in the process of collecting evidence.
The panel also told me, as can be extracted from the recording, that their fellow Zifa board members, Methembe Ndlovu, Kenny Marange and Solomon Mugavazi, were resisting the investigations into Asiagate.

Interestingly, Methembe, Marange and Mugavazi have all been mentioned in the report, but, ironically, Mugavazi – who is said to have been resisting the investigations – was never called in to testify.
For, the sake, of the public to debate this case better, I hereby provide the remainder of the recorded material from my appearance before the committee, parts of which are missing from what they have presented in their report as my submission.

The Committee: “We would like to thank you for answering our call to appear before this committee. Actually we did not know that you went to one of these trips until we were alerted by one journalist who said if we wanted the accurate report on Monomotapa trip to Malaysia we should interview you.
“Some board members are very much against this exercise and we are struggling to get information”.
Chizuzu: “Who is that reporter, is it not fair that I should know him or her even if I am not going to approach him because it is true I went to Malaysia on 10 July 2009”

The Committee: “That is not important because he did not tell us anything else, save to alert us that you could be important.
“In fact, we have had resistance even from some board members such as Methembe (Ndlovu), Marange (Kenny) and Mugavazi (Solomon), players and coaches and I do not know why people are not willing to testify.
“Maybe they know something we do not, but we at least expected board members TO LEAD US BY EXAMPLE TO HELP US NAIL THESE CRIMINALS.”

After this, the committee then asked me what they claimed in their final report to have been their first question, when it should have been, in fact, their second.
What I find very strange now is the feeling, among the three members of the committee, Moyo, Ndumiso Gumede and Fungai Chihuri, after I answered their question on how much money Monomotapa received.

My answer, which they did not capture in full, was:
“The club received US$10 000 publicly, received by Solomon Mugavazi in the hotel lobby. I received US$500, as did all members of the club executive who were on the trip, who included chairman Lysias Sibanda, treasurer Bekhi Ndlovu, doctor Prosper Chonzi and coaches Rodwell Dhlakama,Taurai Mangwiro and Clayton Munemo.

“This was the only amount made public, as the same guys clearly said the money was the appearance fee for the club with the players going to be paid directly to avoid previous cases of teams from Africa such as Lesotho who failed to pay the players after receiving the money on their behalf”.

If crucial information like this is not contained in the report, how then was the committee able to adequately present an accurate report?
I would also like to know why their report, on my submissions, does not capture their question:
Committee: “Do you think Nyatanga (Wellington) had power to control Henrietta since all these games were organised with his knowledge?

“Could he have not known of the goings-on, as we were told that most of the communication would come via his business fax as Zifa had no phones working?”
My answer to that was: “I have never been a darling of Zifa and therefore can not answer for them. But I can refer you to Chihuri who was in the last Zifa board, more so I can not answer for Nyatanga who never travelled with us to Malaysia which is the subject of this interview”.

Since this is a matter of such national importance, I would urge Gumede and his committee to revisit their report and try to be, as accurate as possible, as two yellow cards in the same match equals a red.
They should not put their opinion into submissions, as they did in this report, as that could injure the reputations of a lot of innocent people.

That is why I am not going into details about the impression I got of them about the Zifa board, how they felt it has a serious leadership vacuum under Cuthbert Dube and how they expect the implicated members of the board to have resigned by now.
I will also not worry readers with their opinion they had of Zifa Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Mashingaidze, who they said was only active and effective when asked about documents and details pertaining to

Asiagate and was a liability in other matters of association business.
But I will tell the readers that until now Solomon Mugavazi, who is a Zifa board member and was in the previous board led by Nyatanga, traveled as Head of Delegation to Malaysia and has not been interviewed by Gumede and his committee.

Still, his name was included among the participants on the final table.
When a Zifa committee distorts submissions that are supposed to be basis of investigations, selectively leave out other key people, denigrate members of the same body because they had been fingered, it’s clear that our national football association, led by Cuthbert Dube, faces a real threat to its existence as an effective unit.

It is not surprising that even international media have called this, the most predictable crisis in Zimbabwean football history .