Chronicle Editor
Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE main complainant in match-fixing allegations against Southern Region Division One title aspirants Talen Vision, ZPC Hwange, withdrew their grievance, leaving the matter to die a natural death.
In August, Vision were engulfed in an alleged match-fixing storm after allegedly trying to bribe four ZPC Hwange FC players with US$100 ahead of their league match which ended 0-0.
ZPC Hwange were the main complainant, but last week the club wrote to Zifa Southern Region notifying them that they are no longer keen to pursue the matter.
The withdrawal of ZPC Hwange’s petition, which weakened the case, occurred after Vision lawyer Tawengwa Hara had argued before a disciplinary hearing that his client was being charged using a wrong charge sheet.
Zifa Southern Region board member Fiso Siziba confirmed that ZPC Hwange had withdrawn the case.
“The defence had argued that a wrong charge sheet was used and while the process of normalising the charge sheet was underway, ZPC Hwange wrote to say they are withdrawing their case. Their argument from their lawyer Hara was that the charge sheet was based on the 2017 code of conduct not 2019,” said Siziba.
“It is ZPC Hwange’s legal right to withdraw and after receiving their letter from their vice-chairman a Chese, we told ZPC Hwange to formalise their withdrawal through an affidavit by November 6. This was done to avoid the risk of someone saying my case was not handled well because it’s not Chese who had reported the case.”
Mehluli Thebe, ZPC Hwange secretary-general, who is also a Zifa Southern Region board member, had reported the case.
Allegations were that Vision had used former Railstars player Mtewa Masiku, who they sent to Hwange to meet one of the players to “seal the deal”.
Unbeknown to Masiku, the ZPC Hwange player, in line with Fifa’s code triple R (recognise, resist and report), had already alerted management and a trap set for him.
Vision have publicly denied any involvement in match-fixing, blaming “outside” forces bent on tarnishing their image.
Siziba declined to comment on what action will be taken against ZPC Hwange.
“Other due processes will then follow after we’ve received ZPC Hwange’s affidavit,” said Siziba.
Meanwhile, Vision remained three points behind leaders Bulawayo City, who are on 61 points, with two games remaining.
City beat visiting Binga Pirates 7-0, while Vision clobbered Bosso 90 3-0 to keep their title hopes alive.
Results
Friday: Bulawayo City 7-0 Binga Pirates, Bosso 90 0-3 Talen Vision
Saturday: CIWU 0-1 Mosi Rovers, Makomo 2-1 Arenel Movers, Casmyn 0-0 ZPC Hwange, Indlovu Iyanyathela 2-1 Moto Moto, Toronto 0-0 Mainline
Table
P W D L F A GD Pts
Bulawayo City 26 18 7 1 56 9 47 61
Talen Vision 26 17 8 1 63 11 52 58
ZPC Hwange 25 12 9 4 28 11 17 45
Makomo 25 11 9 5 37 22 15 42
Bosso 90 25 10 9 6 34 28 6 39
I/ Iyanyathela 25 10 8 7 27 15 12 38
CIWU 26 10 7 9 27 26 1 37
Ajax Hotspurs 25 9 4 12 31 32 -1 31
Binga Pirates 26 8 6 12 23 38 -15 30
Casmyn 25 7 5 13 23 31 -8 26
Mosi Rovers 27 6 7 14 19 39 -20 25
Mainline 25 5 9 11 20 33 -13 24
Motomoto 26 5 7 14 20 51 -31 22
Toronto 26 4 8 14 19 66 -47 20
Arenel Movers 26 3 10 13 18 38 -20 19
– @ZililoR
Online Reporter