adminPetros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
ZIFA are finally shifting attention from the Asiagate scam to taking a pro-active approach that puts more emphasis on preventing the scourge of match-fixing from afflicting all facets of the domestic game.
The shift in focus comes as Zifa will this weekend become the second country after South Africa to host a Cosafa integrity workshop on match-fixing in conjunction with global police bloc Interpol.
The workshop, which begins in the resort town of Victoria Falls this morning and ends on Monday, will also see a crack three-member Interpol team of instructors take the participants through the train the trainer programme that is expected to empower the Southern African countries that are taking part.
Interpol, who have struck a strong partnership with Fifa in the global fight against match-fixing, have sent the trio of Julie Norris from Wales, Australian Innika La Fontaine and Dinis Adriao of South Africa.
Zifa vice-president Ndumiso Gumede leads a team which includes chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze, his Premier Soccer League counterpart Kenny Ndebele, Zifa Referees committee member Brighton Mudzamiri and Footballers Union of Zimbabwe president Desmond Maringwa.
Angola, Mozambique, Lesotho and Zambia have also sent their representatives, who are in turn expected to return to their bases and become the educators on match-fixing.
Gumede last night paid tribute to Cosafa for choosing Zimbabwe as hosts to the first ever train the trainer workshop on the continent.
“We are privileged that Cosafa could nominate us as a host country and virtually all our guests have now arrived. They (Cosafa) are, of course aware of the things that happened here and the processes that were followed and they are keeping tabs on what ought to happen,’’ Gumede said.
Unlike the workshop in Johannesburg in September last year, where the Cosafa countries shared experiences and discussed at length how Zimbabwe had dealt with the Asiagate scandal, the seminar in Victoria Falls has shifted focus to equipping participants with skills to train their respective constituencies on the dangers of match-fixing and some the measures that help to prevent it from happening.
“The train the trainer programme will have four sessions, early in the morning, mid-morning and two afternoon sessions and that is how comprehensive the programme is.
“We are extremely grateful to Cosafa for affording us an opportunity to host and this workshop is special in that it comes just a month after the UNTWO General Assembly and football is reaping some of the rewards by hosting our visitors in refurbished facilities,” said Gumede.
Gumede also revealed that Zifa had managed to beat the October 4 deadline that Fifa had given to them to respond to the submissions that had been made by the individuals who received long term bans from football for their alleged roles in the Asiagate scandal.
“Those individuals had sent their submissions to Fifa without copying the association and when we went to Zurich, we demanded that we sought to have been copied those submissions and Fifa then sent us the copies.
“We have had sight of the responses and regrettably one individual claimed that people were never invited to come before either the Gumede committee or the Justice Ebrahim committee, which to me is lying by omission.
“Everyone was invited and that is why people like Joey Antipas and Ernest Sibanda got a reprieve because they came forward and told the truth about what was happening. I must also reiterate that the Gumede committee was just a probe team and not a disciplinary committee and we just sampled some and not all the individuals who were involved.
“It was the Ebrahim committee that tried to talk to almost everybody who was involved and in our responses, we have said to Fifa that we are available if they need any verbal explanation,’’ Gumede said.
Mashingaidze said they were excited about the prospects of starting educational programmes once the likes of Ndebele, Mudzamiri and Maringwa complete the course.
“I think this kind of initiative by Cosafa will assist us in combating the scourge of match-fixing and beyond this, we should be able to roll out educational programmes as agreed to by the region, Fifa and Interpol in Johannesburg last year,’’ Mashingaidze said.
Online Reporter