adminPetros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
ZIMBABWE National Soccer Supporters’ Association have challenged ZIFA to speedily deal with the latest match-fixing saga that rocked the domestic game early this month and ensure the scam does not distract the Warriors’ bid for a place at the 2016 African Cup of Nations finals.
ZNSSA founding president Eddie “Mboma’’ Nyatanga yesterday implored ZIFA president Philip Chiyangwa and his board to pull out all the stops and bring closure to the scam dubbed Limpopogate which threatened to scupper the Warriors’ back-to-back Nations Cup Group L qualifiers against Swaziland over the Easter weekend.
ZIFA early this month revealed that they had unearthed a scam by a cartel to fix the outcomes of the Warriors Nations Cup matches and immediately suspended board member Edzai Kasinauyo and the senior team’s assistant coach Nation Dube.
The soccer mother body also fingered former chief executive Henrietta Rushwaya, the association’s former programmes officer Jonathan Musavengana, player intermediary Kudzi Shaba, and former Warriors coach Ian Gorowa as the masterminds behind the match-fixing cartel. Apart from just making the allegations ZIFA also lodged an official report to the Zimbabwe Republic Police over the matter while also alerting FIFA, the Confederation of African Football and COSAFA.
As ZIFA president Philip Chiyangwa told a Press conference in Harare yesterday that they had provisionally expelled Kasinauyo from the association pending ratification by the assembly later next month, Nyatanga expressed worry over the pace at which the mother body is dealing with the matter.
“When ZIFA announced that they had unearthed this match-fixing scam they gave us the impression that they would deal with this matter speedily and bring the culprits to book.
“But as supporters we are worried that the longer this case drags on the more it could affect the Warriors again as they prepare for their massive Nations Cup qualifier against Malawi at home on June 4. South Africa, who followed after us, seem to have already covered some considerable ground and have started hearings. So we are saying to Dr Chiyangwa and his board please deal with this matter speedily and make sure that whatever needs to be done is done so that the Warriors are not distracted.
“It must be remembered that some players names were also dragged into this scam when it was unearthed and you do not want a situation whereby players go into battle under pressure over the allegations. You do not want a situation where the coach is not sure which players to pick because some of them could be facing these allegations.
“We had big problems with Asiagate in that it dragged on for years and years and took the focus away from the development of the game as the national teams and in the end our Warriors didn’t qualify for anything and yet it was costly.
Online Reporter