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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
HEARINGS on match-fixing allegations against Southern Region Division One title aspirants, Talen Vision, will start soon after ZPC Hwange finally submitted relevant information to be delivered to the disciplinary committee.
Last month Vision were engulfed in an alleged match-fixing storm after allegedly trying to bribe four ZPC Hwange FC players with US$100 ahead of their league match which ended 0-0.
There were concerns that Zifa Southern Region was taking long to conclude the matter, whose findings could have a bearing in the championship race which has turned out to be a two-team event between Vision and Bulawayo City.
Allegations are that the ambitious Bulawayo-based outfit used former Railstars player, Mtewa Masiku, whom they sent to Hwange to meet one of the players to “seal the deal”.
Unbeknown to Masiku, the ZPC Hwange player, in line with Fifa’s code triple R (recognise, resist and report), had already alerted management and a trap was set for him.
Vision have publicly denied any involvement in match-fixing, blaming “outside” forces bent on tarnishing their image.
However, this publication is reliably informed that a ZPC Hwange defender (name withheld) is the key witness and will provide messages that he received purportedly from a Vision agent who wanted to fix the match.
Fiso Siziba, a Zifa Southern Region board member who has been leading the investigations said they will submit “relevant information” to the disciplinary committee today.
“We now have all the details we need, save for a few statements that can be included later when the hearings begin. ZPC Hwange who were the complainants in the matter had delayed to give relevant information and have since done so. By end of the day today (yesterday), we will be able to forward the case to the disciplinary committee for hearings to commence.
“The other thing that dragged the case was that we couldn’t rush the investigation leaving out important details. Some service providers like mobile phone operators took their time to furnish us with information that we needed. Basically, we could not take an uncooked matter before the disciplinary committee,” said Siziba.
Meanwhile, tricky assignments await championship chasing duo of Vision and City today.
Vision are away to Mainline at Plumtree’s Dingumuzi Stadium. The table toppers, Vision with 43 points from 19 games beat Mainline 3-0 in the first leg.
City, who have played a game less than Vision are second on the table with 41 points and are away to Toronto who’ve taken the fixture to the dusty pitch of Khumalo Barracks this afternoon. In the first leg, City laboured to a 1-0 win over Toronto.
Fixtures
Today: Mainline v Talen Vision (Dingumuzi, 3PM), Ajax v ZPC Hwange (Crescent, 12PM), Binga Pirates v Arenel Movers (Binga, 3PM), Bosso 90 v Makomo (Crescent, 3PM), Indlovu v CIWU (Khumalo Barracks, 12PM), Motomoto v Mosi Rovers (Mpumalanga, 3PM), Toronto v Bulawayo City (Khumalo Barracks (3PM), Casmyn (BYE)
— ZililoR
Online Reporter