adminAlthough the announcements of the 10-year, five-year and two-year bans will not bring the Asiagate matter to finality, it will help end a fortnight of speculation triggered by Zifa’s decision to only reveal the names of the 15 individuals they handed with life bans for allegedly being masterminds in the scandal.
Zifa, who postponed their indaba from last Friday, had decided to deliver their penalties in batches but that move has been met with fierce criticism especially taking into account that the report complied by the Justice Ahmed Ebrahim Independent Ethics Committee on which the rulings are based, is now in the pubic domain.
That report contained a raft of recommendations to Zifa on the penalties to be given to each individual they felt had played a role in the fixing of games during the Warriors, Young Warriors and Monomotapa’s controversial tours to Asia.
Some of the individuals handed with life bans, including former Zimbabwe coach Sunday “Mhofu’’ Chidzambwa, Dynamos centre back Guthrie Zhokinyi, ex-Warriors skipper Method Mwanjali, Bidvest Wits defender Thomas Sweswe and player agent Kudzi Shaba, have also indicated that they will appeal against the sentences.
Mwanjali and Sweswe have already received the full backing of their clubs — Mamelodi Sundowns and Wits — in their battle to clear their names with the two South African Premiership sides reportedly lining up strong legal teams to help their players challenge the life bans.
Only Fifa can extend a global effect to the penalties that are being meted out by Zifa.
Crucially, today’s board meeting comes against the background of the guidelines which Zifa received from Fifa on Friday on the manner in which they should handle the Asiagate penalties.
The guidelines also include how to deal with cases that have sucked in journalists.
In line with sections of the Fifa Disciplinary Code, the world soccer governing body asked Zifa to provide information that shows that:
The person sanctioned has been cited properly
He has had the opportunity to state his case
The decision has been communicated properly (along with any documentary evidence establishing the foregoing)
Fifa also gave their views on the issue of appealing against the Zifa convictions.
“We refer to the captioned matter (appeal by players and officials convicted of match fixing and illegal betting) and to your correspondence dated 21 October 2012, the content of which was duly noted.
“In this regard we would like to first and foremost inform you that the appeal procedure concerning a decisions taken by your association would appear to be an internal issue and consequently it would be for Zifa to establish what body is competent to deal with possible appeals against the decisions passed by the body you are referring to in your aforementioned correspondence.
“Notwithstanding the above and from the documentation currently in your possession, it would appear that the judicial bodies of Zifa according to art 51. of the Zifa constitution (statutes) are the disciplinary committee, the appeal committee and the court of arbitration, that the appeal shall hear appeals against decisions of the disciplinary committee that are not declared final (cf. art. 53.3 of the Zifa statutes) and that the relevant proceedings shall be governed by the Zifa disciplinary code (cf. art 52.2 and 53.2 of the Zifa statutes).
“Finally, we would like to point out that the foregoing is of a purely informative nature and therefore without prejudice whatsoever. We thank you for taking note and trust this has been of assistance,’’ wrote Marco Villiger and Marc Cavaliero.
Villiger is the Fifa director of legal affairs while Cavaliero leads the disciplinary and governance department.
Zifa vice-president, Ndumiso Gumede, yesterday said today’s indaba would be mainly centred on the Asiagate matter with the association’s leadership expected to also make a resolution on the suggestion to set up an Appeal committee that would deal with all the protests from the accused individuals.
Discussions on Asiagate have also once again put the Warriors case into the shade with the board’s review of the senior team’s embarrassing failure to qualify for the 2013 African Cup of Nations being the second of the two items on the agenda.
Gumede also hinted that the Zifa board could during today’s meeting also discuss the possible fee which the Asiagate appellants would have to pay.
“If it was a regular Zifa Appeals committee then the normal fees that were passed by the Zifa assembly at the start of the year would apply. But because we are looking at having a special committee that will only deal with the Asiagate appeals, we would have to discuss the fees as a board and also take into account the fact that the members of that special committee would need to be paid and Zifa cannot bear the bulk of those costs,’’ Gumede said.
Gumede also maintained his earlier stance that he would prefer a scenario where the Sport and Recreation Commission also chipped in by identifying and appointing the members who will sit on that Appeals committee.
“Like, I said before, that for avoidance of having flak thrown at us we cannot have Tererai Gunje sitting on the Appeal committee because he was part of the Ebrahim commission and the other member Tim Sangarwe works in the same law firm with Ralph Maganga (Zifa lawyer) so you can see that our regular committee cannot deliberate on this matter now,’’ Gumede said.
Away from the seemingly endless Asiagate saga, it will also be interesting to see how the Zifa board will react to the Warriors’ Nations Cup disaster.
Despite claims that the match against Angola may have been fixed the reality remains that the Warriors played second fiddle to the Angolans in three quarters of their back to back meetings with the Palancas Negras.
Once they raced into a 3-0 lead in the first half of the first leg at Rufaro on September 9, the Warriors were outwitted by the Angolans in the second half of that game and more importantly failed to respond to the Palancas Negras’ first half blitz in Luanda.
If the Warriors could go on a rampage and find three quick goals including an own goal by midfielder Mateus that unsettled the Angolans on their visit to Harare, Rahman Gumbo and his men ought to have known that the Palancas Negras could do the same in Luanda.
And true to their vow to turn the tables in Luanda, skipper Manucho, who plies his trade in the Spanish La Liga led from the front as the Palancas Negras continued from where they had left off in that strong second half finish at Rufaro to overturn that deficit. Now all eyes will be on the Zifa board to critically analyse how the plot was lost in Luanda and give the nation a true introspection of where the war that started with a win in the first battle was eventually lost.
But with more time likely to be consumed by the Asiagate debate, there are genuine fears too that the story of the Warriors disaster may sadly not receive the vital attention that it also deserves.
Online Reporter