Zimpapers Logo

October when a specially commissioned Ethics Committee is expected to have completed its interviews and delivered its rulings.
There has been speculation on how Zifa intend to proceed with bringing to finality the issue of all the people fingered in the Asiagate report that was compiled by a Ndumiso Gumede-led probe team.

The Zifa board took the first major step in the handling of the report when they suspended three board members – second vice-president Kenny Marange, Northern Region chairman Solomon Mugavazi and board member development Methembe Ndlovu – at their meeting in Harare last Friday night.
However, questions had remained on how Zifa intended to deal with the much sensitive issue of the players and the coaches.
But Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze yesterday clarified how the association, which has also enlisted the help of world soccer governing body Fifa, was to decide the fate of those implicated.

Mashingaidze said following recommendations by the Gumede report to set up an independent judicial commission, the Zifa board is hopeful that by the end of this week they would have put in place an Ethics Committee that would deal with the Asiagate scam. The committee is set to be made up of a retired High Court judge and some legal practitioners. There had been genuine concerns from the domestic football family that Zifa needed to avoid having their standing committee on ethics and fair play, which is led by Southern Region chairman Gift Banda, dealing with the Asiagate matter.

But Mashingaidze clarified the association’s position and insisted that the Asiagate Ethics Committee would be an independent body that would only deal with the Gumede report and “will be de-commissioned after it had done its work”.
“The Ethics Committee should be made up of people of unquestionable repute and it will deal with the issues meticulously.

“They will be handling a matter that could have some landmark judgments in the history of local football and it therefore also requires that the committee be made up of people who are independent from the influence of the day-to-day politics of our football.
“Once it is done with Asiagate having interviewed the three suspended board members, players, coaches and any officials implicated and made its recommendations to the Zifa board in time for the Zifa assembly meeting, it will be decommissioned.

“It must also be understood that the Zifa ethics and fair play committee is a standing committee which normally deals with campaigns against violence at matches, racism and ensuring that teams win or lose fairly and they will not have anything to do with Asiagate.
“People need to know of their fate by the end of October and it is that independent committee that will determine what constitutes a corrupt practice as it will also be guided by Article 62 of the Fifa code of ethics.

“The Fifa statutes supercede the local statutes but we are saying ideally the committee should have completed its work by the end of October so that the Zifa assembly can ratify or reject the sanctions that would have been handed out by the board.
“Once the committee has been put in place, it will be favoured with copies of the report and players, coaches and all those fingered in the report will be afforded an opportunity to clear themselves in view of Article 62 of the Fifa Statutes,” Mashingaidze said.

Mashingaidze also revealed that the Zifa board had, during their indaba ,resolved to write to Fifa on behalf of the Zimbabwe Republic Police to seek Interpol assistance for the local force.
Fifa, who are now working closely with Interpol, have set aside US$28 million to fight corruption, match fixing and betting in the global game for the next 10 years.
“Anything deemed criminal in terms of the Asiagate report will be left to the police and the Zifa and Fifa statutes will only deal with those that have brought the game into disrepute.
“So as Zifa we will write to Fifa, on behalf of ZRP, so that Interpol can assist the local force to investigate and interact with those outside the country since there was no paper trail at the Zifa offices about how those games and the trips to Asia were arranged, who got what and what if anything was due to the association”.

Zifa, Mashingaidze also said, had referred to the government’s crack Anti-corruption unit, “any cases in the report, which may suggest corrupt activities or ill-gotten wealth”.
“The board also resolved to engage Chris Eaton (Fifa head of security) again to get confirmation from him on when he is coming because even the Ethics Committee would need to meet with him and understand the gravity of the offences,” Mashingaidze said.

As Mashingaidze cleared the air on the route that Zifa are taking in finalising the Asiagate scam, the Northern Region leadership were preparing for a meeting today to discuss the way forward following the suspension of their chairman Mugavazi.
Northern Region vice-chairman Saidi Sangula said they would, during their meeting, also look at the implications of Mugavazi’s suspension.
“We are yet to meet as a region to look at the implications of the Zifa board discussion and we are meeting tomorrow to discuss that,” Sangula said.

Sangula also remained hopeful that Zifa would not err by appointing any of the board members onto the Asiagate Ethics committee.
“It would be wrong for any of the board members to sit on the Ethics Committee, such as move compromises independence so it must – of necessity – have none of the present directors included in it,” said Sangula.
Marange has already welcomed the setting up of the Ethics Committee insisting it will give a chance to prove his innocence.