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Lovemore Dube Sports Editor
THE Zifa Centralgate saga is expected to end this week when Zifa receives a report from the investigations committee led by Custom Kachambwa.This was confirmed by association lawyer Ralph Maganga yesterday.
He said he had been made to believe that Kachambwa’s committee was almost through with its work which entailed investigating and prosecuting those perceived to have been influential in the promotion of Hardbody to the Premiership in 2011.
Several administrators and referees were mentioned and suspended with retired former Fifa referee Cosmas Nyoni admitting in court that he received money to influence results for Hardbody.
“We have not yet received the report from the chairman Kachambwa. He is expected to file it with the Zifa president, from there on those affected will be advised as is the procedure. What we have been made to believe is that it is almost done and until we receive that we do not have anything to say,” said Maganga.
Maganga refused to comment on speculation that suspended Central Region boss Patrick Hokonya had been absolved of any wrong doing.
“We have not received any word about him. Actually he called me asking for official communication on his not being found guilty. I told him that I knew nothing about it,” said Maganga.
The Harare lawyer said he was not aware of any other cases in which the accused in the Centralgate had been set free. Sources close to Zifa said Hokonya and several referees had been found not guilty of match-fixing.
Hokonya was facing two counts. He was accused of receiving an unknown some of money from an unspecified source in the Zifa charge sheet towards match officials drawn from Bulawayo.
The second count related to him writing to Fifa last year pleading with the international body to push Zifa to process his case. The association said he was in violation of standing statutes by writing to Fifa.
Hokonya was suspended in October of 2011 together with several referees from his region. It is believed he was cleared of the case where he is alleged to have received money from an unknown source to pay referees from Bulawayo. The region allegedly used Bulawayo referees for some matches when allegations of match-fixing started coming out of the Midlands.
Hokonya, a Midlands businessman and small scale miner, refused to talk to the media yesterday when his comment was sought.
“Please speak to Zifa, I have nothing to say at the moment until the case is resolved,” was all Hokonya could say.
Like his suspended Southern Region counterpart Gift Banda, he remains popular in his constituency. Hokonya was able to source sponsorship for his league like Banda did the same with Buscod and was in the process of putting up more office space at the Southern Region offices in Bulawayo.
Progress has since stalled. Another source close to the Kachambwa committee said they faced challenges in the Centralgate case because most of the allegations lacked merit. It was more of a question of conflicts between individuals some of whom sought to use soccer to settle personal fights.
Some promising young referees have not seen action since then and the delayed justice is as good as justice denied. The conclusion of the cases is likely to have a bearing on who is contesting where next year in the Zifa elections.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter