I’m a match fixer: Nyoni

admitted he had lied and had actually been involved in match-fixing in the Zifa Central Region Division One.
The change of statements by Nyoni, who sounded confused as he admitted taking part in the alleged scam, is likely to leave heads rolling in the alleged match-fixing scandal that has now been dubbed Centralgate. Nyoni was dragged to court by suspended Zifa Southern Region chairman, Gift Banda, on allegations of criminal defamation.
Throughout cross-examination, Nyoni contradicted himself as he diverted from his initial claims to the police and in court.
He gave conflicting statements in response to the questions he was asked until the State asked him whether he had ever lied before, and he conceded that he had done so.
Asked whether he had been involved in any match-fixing before, Nyoni said:
“I should say yes, in the Central Region.”
He told the court he did not benefit from the alleged scandal and his duty was only to instruct referees to fix the matches.
Contrary to his initial claims that the vice-chairperson of the Zifa Referee’s Committee, Samukeliso Silengane, who is also on suspension, gave instructions to the referees before they departed for the matches, Nyoni told the court he addressed and gave instructions to five referees who were all going to officiate the Tripple B/Chrome Stars match.
He said he gave the referees the instructions to fix the match. According to him, Nyoni was supposed to fix the Hardbody/FC Gloag match although he was not going to benefit anything from it.
He claimed the other match was handled professionally leaving the court needing more answers related to Zifa Central Region chairman, Patrick Hokonya’s, interests in the matches.
Nyoni, who is being represented by Brighton Ndove of Marondedze, Mukuku and Ndove Legal Practitioners, diverted from most of the statements he had given earlier.
Contrary to his claims that he was phoned by Banda summoning him to his office, he told the court he was actually phoned by Banda but could not see the number because he received the phone call on a landline.
Asked to confirm he never spoke to Banda and Silengane, Nyoni said he never did but later on changed and said he was told by Silengane about the plans to fix the matches and he had no reason not to believe her.
In his warned and cautioned statement, Nyoni told the police he met Banda a week after the alleged fixed matches but yesterday he changed and told the court he met him three weeks after the matches.
Nyoni appeared to exonerate Hokonya, in contrast to his earlier claims that the Central Region boss contacted him after the games.
Asked why Hokonya would have been happy when Tripple B had not won the match, Nyoni said he never spoke to him after the match but it was Silengane who told him so.
He alleged his only contact with Hokonya was when he inquired about transport money.
Asked whether he knew Silengane was investigating him, Nyoni said his boss was only “holding me at ransom as I was not serving her interests”
She alleged Silengane started the investigations because the referee, who handled the match in which Hardbody won, had been demoted by the match commissioner.
Nyoni hobbled over his statement that Banda and Hokonya had interests in the matches, at some stage saying he did not know Banda’s interests.
He confessed he was afraid of Silengane because she was not lenient prompting the court to ask whether that was the reason he had a different story about Banda and Hokonya, to which he said no.
However, Nyoni further told the court he was not suspended for match-fixing but for a recorded conversation where some voices are heard talking about the match-fixing plan.
The State will continue by calling two defence witnesses, one of them Martin Shoko on Tuesday.
The State would want to establish why Nyoni specifically chose to invite Shoko as a witness out of the five referees he claimed he addressed before they left for the Tripple B-Chrome Stars match played in Kwekwe.
Nyoni is pleading not guilty to the criminal defamation charge he is facing and recently told the court that the statement attributed to him in the press reports was a true and correct version of what he said and would remain part of his defence.