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Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
HWANGE FC faces a heavy penalty from Fifa after flouting the world governing body’s Transfer Matching System resulting in the coalminers using a player without a reverse International Transfer Certificate.
A similar matter saw Fifa slapping the Football Association of Zambia with fines of over $65,000 for three offences of breach of the TMC requirements with Zanaco FC set to pay $25,000 of that amount.
If found guilty, Hwange might be hit with a heavy fine or docked points for using Craven Banda who they had loaned to Motlakase Power Dynamos of Botswana in August 2011 but when he returned at the beginning of the 2013 season, the coalminers registered him without a reverse ITC.
According to impeccable sources, Banda’s matter came to light when Motlakase Power Dynamos officials saw him playing in one of Hwange’s Premiership matches which was beamed live on Supersport and alerted Fifa about the anomaly because they had not processed the reverse ITC for the player.
Fifa made its independent investigations and through the TMS they managed to pick the anomaly.
In a letter dated January 28, 2014 addressed to the Zifa chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze with reference “Club Hwange Collieri FC (sic) — Alleged failure to reflect correct transaction in the Transfer Matching System (TMS) and transfer of player without International Transfer Certificate (ITC), TMS instruction 39589, Fifa deputy secretary to the Disciplinary Committee Thomas Hug said the world soccer governing body’s Disciplinary Committee had set February 27 to hear the case.
“In this regard, we have learnt that in August 2011 the club Hwange Collieri FC (sic), Zimbabwe, and Motlakase Power Dynamos FC, Botswana, had agreed on a loan transfer of the player Craven Banda from the first to the latter club. In this regard, a transfer has successfully been concluded in the TMS (TMS instr. No. 39589) and the relevant ITC has been sent/confirmed by the concerned associations. However, although, in accordance with the document uploaded in the TMS with regard to the transfer as ‘Proof of last contract end date,’ a loan transfer was agreed between the two clubs in question, the transfer was entered in the TMS as permanent.
Furthermore, the relevant agreement has never been uploaded into the TMS,” reads part of the letter.
According to sources with TMS knowledge, the offence that Hwange is facing is a result of their failure to seek a reverse transfer from Botswana for Banda when he returned.
It is said that when Banda left for Botswana, Zifa was still using the manual system of licensing players but when the player returned, the system had been upgraded and Hwange allegedly provided fraudulent documents, as they deliberately omitted to state that Banda had previously played for Motlakase Power Dynamos.
The world’s governing body invited Hwange to submit relevant documentary evidence to the secretariat of the Fifa Disciplinary Committee by February 13, which according to Zifa spokesman Xolisani Gwesela they have done.
“I can confirm that Fifa wrote to us about the matter that you have raised and we have forwarded all the necessary documentation to them. They are handling the matter and once they communicate back to us, we are going to issue a statement,” Gwesela said.
Repeated efforts to get Hwange FC secretary Burzil Dube who has been the key figure in attending to the club’s player issues were fruitless as his mobile phone was not reachable.
Online Reporter