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Caps United to be 'punished' for Issa Hayatou defeat-- report

by Staff Reporter
17 Mar 2017 at 06:42hrs | Views
A  Zimbabwe publication the Herald has made staggering claims that ousted CAF leadership is plotting to rig CAPS United TP Mazembe Sunday tie on Sunday in Harare in favour of the visitors.

According to the publication, Caps United is set to be 'punished' for the ZIFA leadership's spirited efforts to topple Issa Hayatou's empire.
The first leg ended one all.

"The Herald can exclusively reveal today that the old CAF leaders, who were swept away by a tide on a dramatic day of elections in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, yesterday which saw Hayatou's lengthy hold as African football boss being ended by Ahmad Ahmad, had put in place a sophisticated plan to ensure CAPS United are punished for the sins of their leaders" reported the publication.

According to the Herald, a well-orchestrated plan had been hatched by the old CAF leaders, who believed they would retain their seats at the elections in Ethiopia yesterday, to ensure Makepekepe pay for the sins of their football leadership by being booted out of the Champions League tomorrow while TP Mazembe proceed to the group stages.

ZIFA president Philip Chiyangwa has been at the forefront of leading the campaign against Hayatou, as Ahmad's election agent, while his board has strongly backed their leader.

It said TP Mazembe multi-millionaire Moise Katumbi enjoys warm relations with Hayatou and 'this newspaper can reveal that Sunday's match was set to be used as part of the scheme to punish Zimbabwe for Chiyangwa's decision to dare to challenge the old CAF leadership which recently reacted angrily to Ahmad's move by stripping Madagascar of her rights to host the CAF Under-17 championship'.

"The old CAF leaders, using their influence in the committee that controls referees on the continent, went for the referee who is known as TP Mazembe's 'Mr Fix-It', Bernard Camille of Seychelles, to handle Sunday's match between CAPS United and the Congolese giants" it further claimed.

It said Camille has been accused of being 'embedded with TP Mazembe' and, on May 5, 2013, he was the man at the centre of the controversy when the Congolese giants hosted Orlando Pirates of South Africa in that CAF Champions League eliminator which has since been dubbed as a match-made-in-hell.

The Seychelles referee awarded two controversial penalties to Mazembe in Lubumbashi, with the five-time African champions needing a two-goal winning margin to overturn a first leg 1-3 defeat, but the late Senzo Meyiwa saved both spot-kicks.

The second penalty was given in the last move of a match that spilled into 10 minutes of time added on as Mazembe, then leading 1-0, needed just another goal to ensure qualification for the group stages.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation were forced out of that match, so that they could not capture what was happening, while those with mobile phones were detained.

Source - Herald