HIV infection insults fly at Div 1 game . . . Zifa demands reports from match officials and Bulawayo City FC

By Raymond Jaravaza

ZIFA Southern Region has demanded reports from match officials and Bulawayo City FC detailing ugly scenes that marred a First Division One game played at the Mzilikazi Barracks between the Bulawayo City Council owned side and Toronto last Saturday.

So unpleasant were the skirmishes that a match official is accused of shouting at a Bulawayo City FC official to “keep quiet and get treatment for the HIV virus that was ravaging his body”.

The teams played a nil all draw with the game taking a short stoppage after Thabani Goredema of Bulawayo City FC was red carded for a foul on a Toronto player five minutes before the end of the match as players and officials alike complained over the legitimacy of the dismissal.

Things came to a head when the referee blew the whistle to end the game and he was mobbed by Bulawayo City FC players who demanded to know why the centre man — Dalubuhle Nkomo — had supposedly made it his “mission” to rob their side of a victory.

In his report to Zifa that was gleaned by B-Metro Sport, the referee Nkomo cites the red carded player Goredema and an unidentified Bulawayo City FC player as the perpetrators of the violence that resulted in him sustaining a fractured left hand.

He details how Goredema and his teammate manhandled him for allegedly turning the match in favour of opponents Toronto, thereby denying their team a win.

“He (Goredema) twisted my left arm and his teammate, who I could not make out the jersey number, also joined in the assault and they were restrained by their team manager (Eddie Chivero).

“I was surprised when the team coach (Try Ncube), instead of acting in a manner consistent with that of a respectably team official, started shouting insults at me saying I had robbed his team and that he hoped the bribe money I had been offered had been deposited into my account,” reads part of the report, in which the referee further says the bribery allegations were an attack on his personal integrity.

Bulawayo City FC have has also been asked by Zifa to write a report explaining their side of the story and it has emerged that a club official has started instigating legal proceedings against the referee for the “HIV slur made against him by Nkomo”.

“He (the Bulawayo City FC official) is not taking the HIV infection allegations made against him by the referee lightly and has asked his lawyer to look into it,” said a source.

Bulawayo City FC team manager Chivero said the club will compile a report as requested by Zifa, adding that the club will for now leave the matter in the hands of the football association and will be releasing a statement at the appropriate time.

The match commissioner is also expected to submit his report as well. B-Metro