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Philip Chiyangwa

Harare Bureau
ZIFA have welcomed the close co-operation they have started with the South African Football Association with the local body’s president Philip Chiyangwa last night describing it as an historic move that will play a big role in the fight to end the scourge of match-fixing in the two neighbours.

Chiyangwa met with his Safa counterpart Danny Jordaan in Cape Town yesterday with the pair leading their respective delegations in the key indaba during which they exchanged notes following revelations that there had been a match-fixing scam involving South African Premier League games and also targeted at the Warriors’ 2017 African Cup of Nations qualifiers against Swaziland over the Easter weekend.

The Zifa president, speaking from Cape Town last night, hailed the indaba which was also attended by the chairperson of the South African portfolio committee on sport, Beauty Nomvuzo Dlulane.

Chiyangwa said Safa had indicated to them that they had handed the evidence to the Hawks while Zifa had also similarly handed the documentation they have on the matter to the Zimbabwe Republic Police.

“Basically they (Safa) have handed their matter to the Hawks. The disciplinary committee is dispatching charge sheets to the accused before the weekend and in Zimbabwe the police have everything now.

“We will pursue normal football procedures in accordance with the judicial bodies of our federations.

“I must say it has been a very progressive meeting and the first joint Zim-SA bilateral in football. It’s historic … it has never happened,’’ Chiyangwa said.

Chiyangwa reckoned that the indaba in Cape Town heralded the beginning of a closer working cooperation between Zifa and Safa on the many facets of football.