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to establish a Committee to investigate the Asiagate scandal and called on Parliament to enact laws to deal with corruption in sport given the loopholes in the current legislation.
Madzimure said all officials implicated be referred to the police and Anti-Corruption Commission.
The legislator also proposed that if the House establishes the Committee, it should also investigate the role played by Zifa and the Sport and Recreation Commission and make recommendations on the role of the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture in sport development.
Madzimure said the Asiagate scandal had put the name of the country into disrepute.
“There some people who are still in football today who should be behind bars. The country itself was embarrassed and the brand itself was soiled,” he said.
He said the report by a Zifa committee into the scandal had shown that former chief executive officer, Henrietta Rushwaya, had played a prominent role in the scam.
“The report says to the CEO, Zifa was like a small kingdom and she did all she wanted. The report also mentions that former Zifa programmes manager Jonathan Musavengana, a Fifa agent and a junior Zifa employee Harry Taruva also played a big role.
“The former Zifa president Wellington Nyatanga was also said to be complicit in the saga. Ms Rushwaya was able to instil fear in her subordinates through security agents.
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“You find it disturbing that security agents were involved in the running of soccer, which is against Fifa statutes,” he said. Madzimure said Zimbabwe was failing to organise friendly matches with reputable soccer nations because of the match-fixing scandal and said all the administrators convicted of involvement in scandal should be blacklisted from football management.
“My recommendation is that a Committee of Parliament should be set up and there are people who should be blacklisted and should not be found anywhere near football,” he said. Madzimure then called on parliament to enact laws to deal with corruption in sport.
“As Parliament we should start crafting laws that will deal with these crimes in sport. There should be statutes within those laws that will oblige sports bodies to deal with these issues,” he said.
The legislator said the laws should also spell out the role of the ministry in such issues of corruption.
Masvingo Central representative Jeffreyson Chitando (MDC-T) seconded the motion and urged Government to fund football since it is the most popular sport in the country as is the norm worldwide.
“It should be a deliberate policy for Government to fund national teams and not Zifa because they would be flying the national flag,” he said.
He said soccer and sport in general had the potential to improve the country’s economy if run professionally.
Chitando also castigated Rushwaya saying she abused her office and compromised the chances of soccer players to get lucrative contracts abroad because of their involvement in the scandal.
Online Reporter