Ndazi ‘curse’ haunts DeMbare

By Sikhumbuzo Moyo

BULAWAYO – As mind games come into play ahead of the epic blood and thunder Castle Lager Premiership tie pitting giants Highlanders and Dynamos at Barbourfields Stadium on Sunday, the Harare giants have upped the ante by making a bizarre claim that they are “cursed” and will not win a match when impressive Matabeleland North referee Hardly Ndazi is in charge.

The Zimbabwe Referees Committee immediately dismissed the outlandish claim, saying they would not have teams dictating to them and would appoint the best available referees to handle the tie which could potentially decide the destiny of the PSL crown.

Even though the ZRC are yet to reveal the identities of the match officials for Sunday’s game, Dynamos said they would be content with any other referee other than the Victoria Falls-based Ndazi, whom they claim is always biased against them.

Ndazi appeared to be on top of his game when Dynamos lost 2-4 to Hwange recently in a game that was televised live on DStv pay television channel SuperSport 9. Ndazi has been one of the country’s most outstanding referees in the last two years.

Last year, he handled the Bosso-DeMbare clash at Barbourfields Stadium and despite the high tempo of the match, managed to give a top drawer performance and won the hearts of both sets of fans, including neutrals. The match ended in a 1-1 stalemate.

However, the Harare giants allege the referee is always biased against them and hence should not be given the big task on Sunday.

Like the legendary German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn who claimed to never have won whether at club or national team level whenever the great Italian referee Pierluigi Collina was in charge, Dynamos feel the same with the lanky but professional Ndazi, a future international prospect for the country.

“The guy has never been fair to us, never at all and if it was our wish, we really would do with any other referee other than him. He was in charge when we lost to How Mine, was given our game again at the Colliery which we lost and in all these matches, fouls against us were ignored,” claimed Dynamos chairman Kenny Mubaiwa.

The DeMbare boss, whose club is seeking a third consecutive league title, said their clash with an on-fire Tshilamoya needed a referee “with a spine”, someone who would not be overawed by the intimidating atmosphere at Barbourfields Stadium.

He, however, could not suggest a referee that his team was comfortable with but kept on claiming Ndazi had an agenda against Dynamos.

“He is a good referee yes but seems to have an agenda against us,” charged Mubaiwa.

Ndumiso Gumede, the ZRC acting president, said his committee would not listen to “pub talk” but would go about its appointment duties professionally lest they promote anarchy.

“We have an appointments committee whose duty is to deploy referees. They use the very best referees for any given occasion and it is not Dynamos’ prerogative to choose referees otherwise we will clearly have anarchy in the land if teams were to choose the referees they want to handle their games. It’s just unfortunate that such noise comes from an experienced side like Dynamos,” said Gumede.

Dynamos’ title aspirations hinge heavily on the Sunday match as they trail leaders Highlanders by two points with a loss set to widen the gap to five points.

Highlanders have been brutal of late scoring a minimum of three goals in their last three matches, including breaching Fort Rimuka last Sunday where no other team had scored or even won against Black Rhinos. The Chronicle