Sports / Soccer
Rushwaya apologises to players and officials facing life bans
21 Oct 2012 at 06:29hrs | Views
ASIAGATE mastermind Henrietta Rushwaya has admitted "falling into the trap" of match fixing as she accepted her punishment over the scandal.
Rushwaya apologised to players and officials who now face the end of their careers over the scandal which saw makeshift national team squads being sent on trips to Asia between 2007 and 2009 at which they were offered bungs to lose matches.
But the former ZIFA CEO - banned for life from all football activities last Friday - insists that match fixing was taking place well before she assumed the position in March 2007.
In her first interview since she and 14 others were banned for life, Rushwaya offered no apology to the nation and appeared to suggest she was being made a scapegoat because she was a woman.
"I am sorry for those who are trying to get to grips with their sentences, but I hope with this conclusion our football continues to grow to the extent of qual­ifying for the World Cup and African Cup of Nations tourna­ments," she said in an interview published on Sunday.
"I feel like they have made me an easy target because I am a woman, but this began way before I was in office and I just fell into the trap.
"However, I have accepted being the scapegoat and I have dusted myself while moving on with my life."
But Zimbabweans hoping to see Rushwaya out of public life - or in jail as suggested by Sports Minister David Coltart - are in for a new shock as she announced in the same interview plans to run for PARLIAMENT.
Rushwaya told the Sunday Mail newspaper she had no interest in returning to football and would now focus on her political career. The former teacher is thought to be eyeing a parliamentary seat on a Zanu PF ticket in Masvingo Province.
Rushwaya appeared in court in February charged with corruption over match fixing but was acquitted on a technicality after prosecution witnesses stopped cooperating. She was then charged with sending the national teams on foreign trips without the permission of her employers, ZIFA.
Zimbabwe lost to Jordan 2-0, to Thailand 3-0 and to Syria 6-0 in Malaysia on tours arranged by Rushwaya and convicted Singapore match fixer Raj Perumal.
She also conspired to send local club, Monomotapa, to Malaysia where they posed as the national team. Malaysia, ranked 157th in the world, won the first friendly with the fake Zimbabwe national team 4-0, followed up with a 1-0 victory.
An independent committee led by retired High Court judge Ahmed Ebrahim recommended that 15 individuals - including Rushwaya, former coach Sunday Chidzambwa - be banned for life.
About 78 other players and officials face suspensions of between six months and 10 years. The sanctions will be announced in the coming weeks, say ZIFA officials.
Rushwaya apologised to players and officials who now face the end of their careers over the scandal which saw makeshift national team squads being sent on trips to Asia between 2007 and 2009 at which they were offered bungs to lose matches.
But the former ZIFA CEO - banned for life from all football activities last Friday - insists that match fixing was taking place well before she assumed the position in March 2007.
In her first interview since she and 14 others were banned for life, Rushwaya offered no apology to the nation and appeared to suggest she was being made a scapegoat because she was a woman.
"I am sorry for those who are trying to get to grips with their sentences, but I hope with this conclusion our football continues to grow to the extent of qual­ifying for the World Cup and African Cup of Nations tourna­ments," she said in an interview published on Sunday.
"I feel like they have made me an easy target because I am a woman, but this began way before I was in office and I just fell into the trap.
"However, I have accepted being the scapegoat and I have dusted myself while moving on with my life."
But Zimbabweans hoping to see Rushwaya out of public life - or in jail as suggested by Sports Minister David Coltart - are in for a new shock as she announced in the same interview plans to run for PARLIAMENT.
Rushwaya told the Sunday Mail newspaper she had no interest in returning to football and would now focus on her political career. The former teacher is thought to be eyeing a parliamentary seat on a Zanu PF ticket in Masvingo Province.
Rushwaya appeared in court in February charged with corruption over match fixing but was acquitted on a technicality after prosecution witnesses stopped cooperating. She was then charged with sending the national teams on foreign trips without the permission of her employers, ZIFA.
Zimbabwe lost to Jordan 2-0, to Thailand 3-0 and to Syria 6-0 in Malaysia on tours arranged by Rushwaya and convicted Singapore match fixer Raj Perumal.
She also conspired to send local club, Monomotapa, to Malaysia where they posed as the national team. Malaysia, ranked 157th in the world, won the first friendly with the fake Zimbabwe national team 4-0, followed up with a 1-0 victory.
An independent committee led by retired High Court judge Ahmed Ebrahim recommended that 15 individuals - including Rushwaya, former coach Sunday Chidzambwa - be banned for life.
About 78 other players and officials face suspensions of between six months and 10 years. The sanctions will be announced in the coming weeks, say ZIFA officials.
Source - news
