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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
REFEREE Allan Basvi has made damaging match-fixing allegations against the Zimbabwe Referees Committee, saying a senior member would call him to manipulate the result and ensure survival of a team that was eventually relegated.

Basvi said his boss phoned him on the eve of two matches involving a team whose relegation survival he was interested in towards the end of the 2019 season and directed him to influence the results.

After Basvi didn’t play along and the boss’ team was relegated, he said he was punished by being struck off the list of referees that were to handle Premier Soccer League matches in 2020 despite refereeing 26 matches in 2019, including some crucial Division One games.

Basvi said he was only retained in the panel of PSL referees after confronting his boss and threatening to spill the beans.

Basvi said the first incident was in Harare when he was called and told not to be as reckless as Ruzive Ruzive, who had awarded a penalty against the boss’ team.

On the second occasion, Basvi said the boss’ team was playing at home and needed to win by a big goal margin to survive relegation.

“In the first incident, the boss’ team lost by 1-3, the first goal coming via a penalty, which I had been warned against. After the game he was livid with the penalty I awarded, but I told him to confirm with the match commissioner. I knew I had done well because he (match commissioner) had commended me after the match, including my decision to award a third-minute penalty,” said Basvi.

He said in the second incident, he was instructed to ensure the boss’ team, which was playing at home, convincingly beat the visitors by a four-goal margin, but again that was not to be.

“I had received a call a day before the match on November 2. In what was clearly a thinly veiled threat, he said I must not do what I did in Harare. When I got to the match venue I informed the commissioner (Dennis Tshuma) about the call,” Basvi said.

Informing Tshuma was in line with Fifa’s position on match manipulation which is, recognise, resist and report (Triple R).

According to Basvi, as the season’s curtain drew closer, a match fixing alert message started circulating in the referees’ WhatsApp groups and he became the chief suspect despite having nothing to do with that message.

After being struck off the 2020 list of PSL referees, Basvi said he sent a message to Tshuma, whom he had informed about being pressurised to manipulate the match in favour of the team of interest.

Tshuma is also the Zifa Matabeleland North chairman.

“Hanti you are agreed it’s me who wrote that match fixing alert. If it was me, I could have sent this message on various social media together with the audio of the ‘chef’ when he wanted me to go and engage in match fixing. Call was on November 2 and match day was on November 3. I phoned about four fellow referees about this evil development and I even told you (Tshuma). I had already become suspicious of some of his calls. Don’t be surprised when audios start coming out. That will be me, not that WhatsApp message you are suspecting is mine. That will be for the good of our football,” reads Basvi’s message to Tshuma.Tshuma apparently forwarded the message to the referees’ committee WhatsApp group and Basvi was called to have a “gentleman’s talk”.

In that meeting, according to recordings Basvi made, he was told that he should not have written the scathing WhatsApp attack, but should instead have sought a face-to-face meeting to address the allegations.

“Since you are saying it’s not you, I have forgiven you and you will now be back on the 2020 list of referees,” Basvi is told.

Basvi is, however, not amused and responds saying he didn’t agree to talk so that he could beg to be readmitted to the PSL referees’ panel.

When questioned why he has been quiet all along, Basvi said as a security person, he was still gathering other details around the sexual harassment of female referees, which also included convincing the victims to come out in the open.

“You can’t win a war without proper planning. I managed to convince the ladies (referees) to speak out against this rampant abuse. They (referees committee) knew I had this evidence and probably were prepared to use whatever defence they had, so I had to strike at a time when they least expected and thought I had forgotten (about the whole episode). We can’t sweep corruption under the carpet. What kind of soldier will I be if I go against what my Commander-in-Chief tells us,” said Basvi.

The referees committee did not respond to requests for comment on Basvi’s allegations.