adminmatch-fixing scam, which has cast a shadow on our national game for the past year.
More than a year has passed since Zifa set up its committee to investigate allegations that some of the Warriors’ games, in various trips to Asia for friendly matches, might have fallen prey to match-fixing agents who manipulated the results.
Zifa vice-chairman Ndumiso Gumede and his team produced a damning report, which fingered about 80 players and a number of administrators in the Asiagate scam, and painted a graphic picture of a corrupt web that was eating into the innocence of our national game.
However, the credibility of the Gumede report has been questioned by some of those who gave evidence amid suggestions that their input was twisted and cases of certain individuals ending up being wrongly implicated, in trips they never made, did not help matters either.
That most of the evidence collected wasn’t recorded nor taken under oath also showed the shortcomings of the investigation process.
Gumede and his team appeared to adopt a blanket approach, where to them every match was fixed and everyone on the trip was a culprit, and this has inevitably caused problems with those who might not have played a part in the scam even when they were there.
The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, himself a lawyer, highlighted the shortcomings of the report while Fifa security chief, Chris Eaton, said given that the Zifa committee did not have lawyers and experienced investigators, the grey areas were certainly expected.
But we now expect all that to change given that Zifa have taken the initiative not only to appoint a retired Supreme Court judge, Justice Ahmed Ebrahim, to head the Independent Disciplinary Committee but have also brought along a host of lawyers.
Both Lewis Uriri and Tererai Gunje have considerable experience dealing with football issues while Justice Ebrahim led the International Cricket Council investigation which led to the five-year ban on former Kenya cricket captain Maurice Odumbe for accepting payments from a bookmaker, in violation of standing ICC rules and regulations.
The presence of a retired ZRP Assistant Commissioner, a former Sports Commission chairman and a retired Fifa panel referee, on the same committee, gives it widespread backup wisdom to deal with a sensitive issue and come up with the findings that will be acceptable.
People who have been fingered will now have to answer serious questions, which will either show their complicity in the commission of the scandal, or prove that they were not party to whatever shadowy games that might have been going on.
The panel itself evokes confidence, not only in its ability to get to the bottom of whatever was happening and whoever played a part, but also to clearing those whose names have been dragged into the mud when they have no case to answer in this drama.
These people don’t appear to carry any agendas, against anyone, in the politics that dominate our game while the Zifa investigating committee, by virtue of their interests in the game, were exposed to charges that they carried certain agendas against certain individuals.
We agree with Justice Ebrahim that his committee will need time to complete their exercise because what is important here is not just for justice to be done but also for justice to be seen to have been done.
Doing things overnight carries certain risks and when you have more than 100 people who need to tell their story, it’s impossible for that to be achieved in the shortest possible time.
What is important is for the justice delivery system, which has been created in our football structures, to deliver judgments, within an acceptable period of time, which will help us heal the wounds that have been inflicted by the Asiagate saga.
There is no question that the Asiagate story has had significant damage, not only on the profile of our national sporting discipline, but also on the profile of our country and the sooner that we close this sad chapter the better for everyone.
It’s clear that it had an impact, either directly or indirectly, on our players during their 2012 Nations Cup qualifying campaign and some of those who are implicated, including skipper Method Mwanjali, were at times not in the right frame of mind to compete.
Others have said this is what has been weighing down on Nyasha Mushekwi’s conscience and this has resulted in the big forward changing from a deadly marksman, in the colours of his national team, into an ordinary forward who failed to score even one goal in five 2012 Nations Cup qualifiers.
There is need for our football to move forward and it’s important that we start the 2013 Nations Cup qualifiers on a new foundation without having to deal with issues related to Asiagate.
We have a group of talented young players, some of whom have nothing to do with the trips that torched Asiagate, and they deserve their chance to shine for their country and we seem to be in agreement that we
have a group of footballers who can take us to the 2013 Nations Cup finals in South Africa.
Justice Ebrahim and his team have a huge responsibility on their hands but they certainly have the pedigree to deal with the issues on hand.
Londile Moyo
Online Reporter