‘Zifa had collapsed’

that it was being weighed down by serious divisions over how to handle the Warriors’ trips to Asia for international friendly soccer matches.
Nyatanga was president of Zifa during the period when the Warriors and the Young Warriors undertook regular trips to the Far East where they were reportedly paid to fix match results.

His former deputy Tendai Madzorera accused him of failing to rein in ex-chief executive Henrietta Rushwaya, literally rendering the board ineffective.
Madzorera made the accusations while testifying before a Zifa team set up to investigate allegations that the Warriors were paid to throw games during their trips to the Far East between August 2007 and December 2009

Nyatanga was the head of delegation when the Warriors undertook their first tour to Malaysia for the Merdeka Cup in 2007, which the probe team — led by Zifa vice-president Ndumiso Gumede — believes triggered a flurry of follow-up international friendly matches in such countries as Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Thailand, Syria, China, Indonesia, Myanmar and Uzbekistan.
Although he was not implicated in the scam, Gumede’s committee felt it was imperative that they interviewed Madzorera in his capacity as the former Zifa vice-president and the board member in charge of all national teams.

Madzorera claimed that although he was quoted publicly defending the trips, he had only done so to protect the image of Zifa, insisting that the board had ceded all functions to Nyatanga and Rushwaya who operated as an “Emergency Committee”.
The former Amazulu and Premier Soccer League chairman also said the board’s attempts to fire Rushwaya over the trips had hit a brick wall after she allegedly received protection from Nyatanga.

“The money games started with the 39th Merdeka Tournament of 2007 (19th-30th August 2007) held in Selangoi in Malaysia.
“The team was invited and went there and as a board we had pegged a certain fee, maybe US$10 000 or thereabout as Zifa fees for any invitational tournaments or matches unless they were regional.
“By 2009 it became apparent that Zifa was not getting anything out of these games. Yes, at times, in public I stood up for Zifa but whilst in the board we were tearing up each other over these unsanctioned games,” Madzorera said.

He said he was never informed about the trips and only read reports about how safe the team had travelled only after they had left Harare.
“Too many a times I was also reading that the team had arrived safely at some Far East destiny. I was never told in advance about the coming of these games.
“I didn’t go on any of these trips due to the fact that I was not informed due to my known astuteness by those that were involved in organising these money games.
“The organisers wanted and managed to keep me out of these games. As the board member responsible and in charge of national teams, I was the one who recommended the assignment of an HOD to the trips through the board but for these games I was totally sidelined.

“Conveniently all the time it was a rushed up trip and I could not be found for consultations on it.”
Madzorera said although it was assumed that Zifa gained financially from appearance fees, no funds were forwarded to the association’s account from all the games.
“The perceived assumption on these games was that Zifa was going to gain financially since all other expenses would be taken care of by the host FA and then Zifa be paid its stipulated fee for participating.”
Asked why there were no records of the trips at Zifa, Madzorera claimed that the clandestine manner in which the games were organised meant that there would be no paper trail at the association’s headquarters.

“You cannot get the Zifa official list or the travelling delegation due to the fact that the games were not sanctioned by both Zifa and SRC.
“These games caused the board not to have meetings and the CEO and the president were now operating through the Emergency Committee.
“From my experience at Zifa, whenever there is a board emergency committee then it becomes very subjective as it is selective in nature as concerns to its membership composition. The Zifa constitution is not followed . . . in this particular instance it was the CEO and the president”.

How and why did the board allow that?
“The CEO enjoyed some preferential protection from the president. The CEO even usurped my role as she was now appointing the national coaches for all age groups by herself and the president could not lift a finger on it.
“The CEO told us in a meeting that the Zifa president could not fire her or do anything to her because he knew what ‘bomb’ he was standing on,” Madzorera said.

Madzorera alleged that former PSL fixtures secretary Godfrey Japajapa had travelled the most trips as head of delegation and this was so “because the CEO and the president were the ones involved in these games and his board never knew of any middleman until they heard of Singapore international Wilson Raj Perumal.

“We never knew of any middleman therefore we never heard of Raja until now. We believed that the CEO was dealing directly with the other FAs”.
Madzorera acknowledged the blameworthiness of their board, but claimed that his members had not benefited financially from the Warriors trips.
“The culmination of these games led to the suspension of the CEO in Masvingo just before the 27 March 2010 board elections.

“In reflection our board’s blameworthiness is 50 percent as more than 90 percent of the board members did not benefit financially, besides to my best knowledge, the CEO and the president.”
Madzorera said he was hopeful that local football would resume on a “clean slate” after the Asiagate probe.
“I really hope we get to the bottom of this shame and clean our football thoroughly without any sacred cows, fears and favours.

“If anyone is guilty then they should be sanctioned accordingly even if we it means we start afresh with a clean shaven junior national team.
“Let us focus for tomorrow because if we keep the dirty with us today then tomorrow will not be there. Too many people would want to manipulate the national teams, we must have a technical technocrat in that field.

“If we had one by then, he would have advised us based on the performances that these games were of shame.
“The (Zifa) president must never be directly in charge of national teams as it removes accountability,” said Madzorera.
Gumede’s committee, in coming up with their report, also noted that their mandate was only to investigate the trips and the four-man team recommended that another body be set up to hear appeals by those implicated in their findings.

“It is the view of the investigating committee that its mandate was to investigate whether there was anything untoward with some of the trips mainly to Asian countries.

“The committee feels that it is the duty of another body to hear any appeals of persons implicated. It is also the duty of that body to subsequently mete out any disciplinary action in accordance with the Zifa and Fifa guidelines or Fifa’s code of conduct.”