Herentals’ appeal set for hearing next week

Tadious Manyepo Sports Reporter
HERENTALS’ appeal with the Zifa Appeals Committee is set for hearing, and possible determination, next Friday.

The Students were found guilty of match-fixing by the PSL disciplinary committee in their game against Black Rhinos on October 19, last year.

Herentals won that tie 3-0 but the team had three points deducted from their tally and were ordered to pay $300 000.

However, the Students filed a notice of appeal with Zifa last week.

They then followed that up with their heads of argument early this week, prompting Zifa to set up the committee which will meet next Friday.

Club secretary-general, Fainos Madhumbu, confirmed the developments.

“We have been notified that the hearing of our appeal will be on February 7, 2020. We believe justice will finally overtake personal feelings,” said Madhumbu.

In the event the Students lose their appeal, they could take their case to an ad-hoc committee or even the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.

The Students finished the 2019 marathon on 41 points, a single point above Chapungu, who occupied the last relegation slot.

The CAS case, in the event the case drags that far, could have serious consequences on the start of the new Premiership season.

It also emerged last week that a technicality could provide Herentals with a lifeline in the saga.

‘‘The Zifa constitution makes it clear that the judicial bodies of the association are the (a) the disciplinary committee; (b) the appeals committee and (c) the ethics committee,’’ a legal expert said.

“It states clearly, in Article 54 (ii), that ‘the responsibilities and functions shall be stipulated in the disciplinary code of Zifa, which shall comply with the FIFA Disciplinary Code and the Code of Ethics of Zifa.’

“Then, in the same Article 54 (iv), it’s stipulated that ‘the members of the judicial bodies (the Zifa Disciplinary Committee, the appeals committee and the ethics committee) may not belong to any other body of Zifa at the same time.

‘‘That is crucial in terms of the discharge of justice, even in such a sensitive case like this one, because all the members of those judicial bodies should not be seen to have interests elsewhere so that justice is not only delivered, but is seen to have been discharged.’’

It appears, the PSL could have overlooked that crucial part because their three-man disciplinary committee is made up of Don Moyo, Vumi Ndaba and former referee Brighton Mudzamiri.

Mudzamiri is the vice chairman of the ZIFA Referees Committee, which means he occupies a place on another body of the association, and should not be sitting on any of the judicial bodies.

“The other complexity here is that how does one take a case to the ZIFA Appeals Committee for it to hear it when the same issue was not handled by the ZIFA Disciplinary Committee, but another committee altogether?’’ the legal expert said.