adminShooting Stars, Kiglon, Zimbabwe Saints and Masvingo were relegated at the end of the season after a dismal showing in the PSL.
Zimbabwe Saints drew against Black Mambas 1-1, Masvingo beat Highlanders 1-0, Kiglon lost 1-2 to Hwange and Shooting Stars won 2-0 against Blue Ribbon in the final matches of the season.
The petition which was signed by the four clubs was copied to the PSL with the teams saying they were against the decision to hurriedly send them to Division One before the conclusion of investigations on corruption being levelled against match officials.
Zifa vice-president Ndumiso Gumede said they had received the petition from the teams and had instructed the Zifa CEO to respond.
“We saw the petition at the board meeting on Friday and we discussed and directed the CEO to respond accordingly,” he said.
CEO Jonathan Mashingaidze confirmed receiving the petition and said they had already sent their response to the teams.
“The petition came from the relegated clubs. They approached the association so that the issue of relegation is looked into given the challenges that marred the league. However the board felt that it was supposed to be directed to the Premier Soccer League,” he said.
Mashingaidze said they felt that the petition should be discussed at their assembly as it was a policy issue.
“At the assembly that is where such issues will be discussed. That is also where all the other issues will be discussed as well,” he said.
According to the PSL, a petition should have two-thirds of the league’s signatures which translates to about 10 teams signing it.
With only four teams they fall far beyond the requirement.
Part of the petition read: “We the undersigned, strongly oppose any team in the just ended PSL League be relegated to Division One. The playing field was not fair. The whole referees’ committee, the referees’ conduct, the referees’ selection and their monitoring system needs urgent overhaul. The system is too susceptible to influence, too corrupt and lacks transparency.”
The petition came about after a number of referees were fingered in match fixing scandals which were triggered by allegations of biased officiating.
A committee was tasked to investigate the allegations of match-fixing with one of the matches that could be under spotlight being the Zimbabwe Saints- Motor Action match.
Zimbabwe Saints had also indicated that they would be engaging the responsible authorities on the allegations of match fixing.
Some match officials that include the referees’ committee vice-chairperson Samukeliso Silengane and Central Region representative Cedric Manengedze Raisi have since been suspended.
Online Reporter