By Grace Chingoma and Godknows Matarutse
CAPS United coach Taurai Magwiro and three other officials have been slapped with 10-year bans from all football-related activities by Zifa in the latest sanctions to come out of the Asiagate match-fixing scandal.
Mangwiro, Monomotapa team manager Clayton Munemo, former club treasurer, Bhekitemba “Far” Ndlovu and former Highlanders’ and Warriors striker Zenzo Moyo form the second batch of officials to be banned.
Zifa, after being alerted by Fifa on the provisions of the Fifa Disciplinary Committee, are hesitant to release the names of the banned individuals until the association is certain that they have received official correspondence advising them of the latest developments.
The way Zifa handled the case involving those who were banned for life, with all of them knowing their fate in the radio broadcasts and newspapers, led to questions being asked by South African lawyers representing Method Mwanjali and Thomas Sweswe.
Fifa then wrote to Zifa last week, after the association had requested for the bans to be endorsed for them to take a global effect, raising questions over the manner the sanctions had been handled.
Sources appeared to suggest that the Zifa board meeting on Wednesday was a stormy one as some of the members felt they had jumped the gun when they handed 15 players and officials life bans.
The Herald can reveal that four officials, and no Premiership players, are the latest casualties. It’s now highly likely that the remaining batches, which include a number of players, will only be released after the end of this season.
Zifa vice-president, Ndumiso Gumede, defended the staggering of the release of the names arguing that they could not rush into announcing all the bans as a block.
“We are dealing with it on a case by case basis and don’t forget the voluminous literature which people (the Zifa board members) had to read through before coming to conclusions on the recommendations and what type of punishment to give.
“We definitely know and have a lot more than we have released and even those that are going to appeal they must know that there is more evidence that led to their conviction and they have to be really sure that they are clean.
“So, we will hold another board meeting before we release the next batch of names and the particular penalties that would have been handed down. But we cannot meet everyday as the board members have other commitments in their respective constituencies and other portfolios,” Gumede said.
Gumede also stressed that the announcement of the bans were not an individual’s initiative but a collective board decision.
The Zifa vice-president also confirmed that they had, during their board meeting, also taken time to go through the letters that have started filtering in from the various lawyers representing some of those players, officials and coaches who have been handed with life bans.
Former Warriors skipper Mwanjali, player agent Kudzi Shaba, Black Leopards technical director Sunday Chidzambwa and Bidvest Wits defender Thomas Sweswe have already engaged attorneys to fight their bans.
If an announcement is made today, as is likely, the duo of Mangwiro and Munemo, who are only ones who were still active on the short list, will have to step aside.
Yesterday, Mangwiro addressed the club’s weekly press briefing ahead of the CAPS United match against Motor Action at Gwanzura tomorrow but could not be drawn to comment on anything concerning the Asiagate report.
Mangwiro and Munemo travelled with Monomotapa to Malaysia for some matches where the 2008 league champions masqueraded as the national team, the Warriors. Former Monomotapa coach, Rodwell Dhlakama, has since been slapped with a life ban.
The club owner, Solomon Mugavazi, who is also a Zifa board member, is yet to receive his sentence but has been implicated as well with the Independent Ethics Committee recommending a five-year ban for the Harare businessman.
Lysias Sibanda, his former partner at Monomotapa who also travelled to Malaysia, has escaped without any sanctions. Moyo went to Bulgaria with a junior national team.
Mangwiro appeared unfazed yesterday by the looming ban as he addressed a media conference ahead of CAPS United’s Castle Lager Premiership match tomorrow against Motor Action at Rufaro.
Mangwiro has transformed CAPS United into a competitive team once again and the Green Machine want to complete the remainder of the season unbeaten in all competitions.
They are likely to have a big say in the destiny of the Mbada Diamonds Cup after making the semi-finals of the tournament with a sweet 2-0 win over Buffaloes at Gibbo last month. In the league they have not been so clinical and have won three and drawn once in their last four matches.
A section of the club now even believes their club can’t win at Rufaro following the goalless draw against Harare City on Wednesday. CAPS have returned to Rufaro to allow renovations at the National Sports Stadium to be completed.
Makepekepe and the Mighty Bulls have only met once this season in the Mbada Diamonds Cup first round were CAPS emerged victorious after winning 1-0 at Trojan.
The reverse league fixture between the two clubs failed to take place after Motor Action refused to play their home match at Gwanzura and the match was awarded to the Green Machine on a 3-0 scoreline.
“They have been posting good results of late, we watched Merciful Ncube scoring a hat-trick in one of their previous matches,” said Mangwiro. They are high on confidence and we expect them to come out fighting but we got the better of them in our last encounter, in a cup tie, so it’s advantage to us.
“They will try to play catch up.”
Mangwiro revealed that there were aiming to gate-crush into top four but their recent slump in league form has now made that a difficult target.
“We could have sneaked into top four but we didn’t want to talk about it. e were disappointed by our goalless draw against Harare City because we badly needed the three points. We had expected a tough battle against Harare City and it proved to be one, I think they played better than us overally.
“We also felt we could have done better after Harare City were reduced to ten men but they got their game plan right, seized control in midfield and made it tough for us. We remain with three matches that’s why I said drawing against Harare City was a huge blow for us.
“Motor Action are occupying eighth place but they are four points above us and four points you only need two matches to catch up,” said Mangwiro.
Midfielder Pride Tafirenyika, who also attended the media briefing, said they need to win against Motor Action to finish the season on a high.
“It’s one game we are supposed to win but we need to work as a team because it’s going to be tough,” said Tafirenyika.
The Green Machine will however have to wait for a late fitness test on Shingi Kawondera who has been struggling with groin injury. The Herald
