News / National
Match-fixing scandal sucks in two Zifa board members
30 Nov 2011 at 22:39hrs | Views
ZIFA board members Patrick Hokonya and Gift Banda are in the eye of the storm after they were fingered in the massive corruption scandal that has rocked the Central Region and derailed the crowning of that region's Division One champions.
Hokonya is the Central Region chairman while Banda is his Southern Region counterpart.
The duo have been implicated by some of the referees who were handling matches in the Central Region.
The match officials allege that the pair were part of a clique of influential administrators known as the "Elders'' who orchestrated a match-fixing scam in the title race that involved Hardbody and Tripple B.
Although Hardbody had been docked 42 points for allegedly using an ineligible player, the Gweru outfit has since appealed against the penalty, which has meant that Tripple B, who were second on the log standings, could not be confirmed as the winners.
It has also emerged that former Premiership side Chapungu, who were in the same league, also have a pending complaint against Tripple B, in which they are also alleging that Tripple B used an improperly registered player ' Witness Nyamutsaka. But as Zifa continue their probe into the bribery and corruption scandal in the Central Region, which has already sucked in Women's Football League secretary-general Samkeliso Silengane, Hokonya and Banda's names have been dragged into the mud.
A shocked Hokonya collapsed during a stormy Zifa board meeting in the capital last Friday night as the association's vice-president Ndumiso Gumede read the allegations against him. Gumede is also the acting chairman of the Zifa Referees' Committee.
Such is the sensitive nature of the allegations that some Zifa board members are understood to have tried to mobilise Zifa assembly members to gang up against Gumede and try and block a further probe into what is threatening to become the biggest scam to rock the domestic game.
Top Zifa referees Albert Mbuse and Cosmas Nyoni are the alleged masterminds behind the scandal as the duo were allegedly closely involved in the appointments of match officials who handled Hardbody and Tripple B's matches. But what has left the Zifa board stunned is the fact that two of its members ' Hokonya and Banda ' were implicated by some of the referees together with Silengane in written submissions and covertly recorded on mobile phone conversations.
Silengane has since been suspended by the Zifa Referees' Committee together with Nyoni and Central Region administrator Cedric Raisi.
Another referee, Martin Shoko of Bulawayo, who had earlier been suspended under a cloud, claimed that the Central Region office had not acted on his match report.
He claimed he had been instructed by the match commissioner and Bulawayo province fixtures secretary, Milton Moyo, to influence the result of the match between Hardbody and FC Glow Petroleum against the former on October 16. Hardbody, however, went on to win 3-1.
"We arrived at the match venue Ascot Stadium at 2pm, by 2.15pm we inspected the field of play with my assistants Saidi, Chirwa and the match commissioner M. Moyo. Before our warm-up for the match
"Commissioner Milton Moyo instructed me to make sure the away team FC Glow win or draw and if it is to lose not by a big margin. The match kicked off at 3pm. In the 12th minute I awarded Hardbody a penalty kick after an unfair challenge to C Maheya by T Maziwisa.
"In the 25th minute I awarded Hardbody a penalty kick after C. Maheya was tripped in the penalty area by FC Glow defender.
"FC Glow players disputed my decision and I show (sic) S. Marufu a yellow card for challenging my decision,'' read part of Shoko's report.
In the audio recordings, a copy of which is in the hands of our Harare Bureau, Bulawayo referee and Nyoni feature prominently as arrangements are made to fix the outcome of the matches involving
Hardbody. A Hardbody official, named as Takesure Sibanda, is also heard in the phone conversations telling Mbuse that they would pay him for biased officiating in their team's favour.
A heated exchange of words also ensues between Mbuse and Nyoni with the former accusing the later of diverting $1 000 meant for him from Hardbody and for allegedly giving him $200 only.
It also emerged in the conversations that another referee Musiiwa Bayana, who is registered as an assistant for the 2011 Zifa panel, regularly officiated in the controversial matches as did Sungano
Makwangudze of Kwekwe.
Nyoni, who has insisted he is not the fall guy in the scandal, also fingered both Hokonya and Banda in the scam.
'It's a long story. First when I was selected onto the referees' committee way back in 2010 my name had been approved by the Zifa Council and the board.
"Miss S. Silengane and the Southern Region chairman were part of the people who moved the motion.
"For my name to be approved I considered it a show of confidence, although I will now think it was not what I thought but something else. I was asked to reciprocate the confidence they had shown in me.
"Sometime, in October 2011 Miss Silengane asked me to come to her office at Lutheran House. She told me that Mr Banda and Mr Hokonya had tasked me with fixing referees for the Central Region's last games as they had a bearing on the promotion race.
"I told S Silengane that she should use Milton Moyo who had vast experience in match-fixing rather me. She told me that the games were in the best interests of herself, Mr G Banda and Mr Hokonya.They needed special fixing. I did the fixtures for the weekend when Hardbody FC were playing FC Glow, Ziscosteel and Gweru Pirates and Chrome Stars v Tripple B. I was given raw instructions by Miss Silengane as to how she and Mr G Banda and Mr Hokonya wanted it done.
"The instruction was that I should fixture referees and that I should go and cause damage without fear.
"I was told by Silengane that the expected results should be a loss for Hardbody, a win for Tripple B and a draw for the other game. I was also asked to travel with the referees in one car, most probably a minibus, I was to influence the referees to get the desired results.
"But some of the referees I had fixtured were replaced as they were thought to be not good for the job at hand,'' Nyoni claimed.
Although those implicated in the audio scam have indicated that they will argue that covertly recorded material cannot not be admissible evidence in a court of law, Zifa have taken the allegations seriously.
They have revealed that they will set up an independent tribunal to deal with the accused referees while the board will handle the allegations against senior administrators such as board members.
"We are taking this matter seriously because it has severe ramifications on the domestic game and we cannot ignore all the pointers to match-fixing that we are getting. We will set up an independent committee that will hear submissions from those suspended referees.
"Those that are not match officials including board members will have their cases referred to the board where they will be suspended provisionally for a prescribed time while investigations are being carried out,'' said Zifa chief executive officer, Jonathan Mashingaidze.
Hokonya is the Central Region chairman while Banda is his Southern Region counterpart.
The duo have been implicated by some of the referees who were handling matches in the Central Region.
The match officials allege that the pair were part of a clique of influential administrators known as the "Elders'' who orchestrated a match-fixing scam in the title race that involved Hardbody and Tripple B.
Although Hardbody had been docked 42 points for allegedly using an ineligible player, the Gweru outfit has since appealed against the penalty, which has meant that Tripple B, who were second on the log standings, could not be confirmed as the winners.
It has also emerged that former Premiership side Chapungu, who were in the same league, also have a pending complaint against Tripple B, in which they are also alleging that Tripple B used an improperly registered player ' Witness Nyamutsaka. But as Zifa continue their probe into the bribery and corruption scandal in the Central Region, which has already sucked in Women's Football League secretary-general Samkeliso Silengane, Hokonya and Banda's names have been dragged into the mud.
A shocked Hokonya collapsed during a stormy Zifa board meeting in the capital last Friday night as the association's vice-president Ndumiso Gumede read the allegations against him. Gumede is also the acting chairman of the Zifa Referees' Committee.
Such is the sensitive nature of the allegations that some Zifa board members are understood to have tried to mobilise Zifa assembly members to gang up against Gumede and try and block a further probe into what is threatening to become the biggest scam to rock the domestic game.
Top Zifa referees Albert Mbuse and Cosmas Nyoni are the alleged masterminds behind the scandal as the duo were allegedly closely involved in the appointments of match officials who handled Hardbody and Tripple B's matches. But what has left the Zifa board stunned is the fact that two of its members ' Hokonya and Banda ' were implicated by some of the referees together with Silengane in written submissions and covertly recorded on mobile phone conversations.
Silengane has since been suspended by the Zifa Referees' Committee together with Nyoni and Central Region administrator Cedric Raisi.
Another referee, Martin Shoko of Bulawayo, who had earlier been suspended under a cloud, claimed that the Central Region office had not acted on his match report.
He claimed he had been instructed by the match commissioner and Bulawayo province fixtures secretary, Milton Moyo, to influence the result of the match between Hardbody and FC Glow Petroleum against the former on October 16. Hardbody, however, went on to win 3-1.
"Commissioner Milton Moyo instructed me to make sure the away team FC Glow win or draw and if it is to lose not by a big margin. The match kicked off at 3pm. In the 12th minute I awarded Hardbody a penalty kick after an unfair challenge to C Maheya by T Maziwisa.
"In the 25th minute I awarded Hardbody a penalty kick after C. Maheya was tripped in the penalty area by FC Glow defender.
"FC Glow players disputed my decision and I show (sic) S. Marufu a yellow card for challenging my decision,'' read part of Shoko's report.
In the audio recordings, a copy of which is in the hands of our Harare Bureau, Bulawayo referee and Nyoni feature prominently as arrangements are made to fix the outcome of the matches involving
Hardbody. A Hardbody official, named as Takesure Sibanda, is also heard in the phone conversations telling Mbuse that they would pay him for biased officiating in their team's favour.
A heated exchange of words also ensues between Mbuse and Nyoni with the former accusing the later of diverting $1 000 meant for him from Hardbody and for allegedly giving him $200 only.
It also emerged in the conversations that another referee Musiiwa Bayana, who is registered as an assistant for the 2011 Zifa panel, regularly officiated in the controversial matches as did Sungano
Makwangudze of Kwekwe.
Nyoni, who has insisted he is not the fall guy in the scandal, also fingered both Hokonya and Banda in the scam.
'It's a long story. First when I was selected onto the referees' committee way back in 2010 my name had been approved by the Zifa Council and the board.
"Miss S. Silengane and the Southern Region chairman were part of the people who moved the motion.
"For my name to be approved I considered it a show of confidence, although I will now think it was not what I thought but something else. I was asked to reciprocate the confidence they had shown in me.
"Sometime, in October 2011 Miss Silengane asked me to come to her office at Lutheran House. She told me that Mr Banda and Mr Hokonya had tasked me with fixing referees for the Central Region's last games as they had a bearing on the promotion race.
"I told S Silengane that she should use Milton Moyo who had vast experience in match-fixing rather me. She told me that the games were in the best interests of herself, Mr G Banda and Mr Hokonya.They needed special fixing. I did the fixtures for the weekend when Hardbody FC were playing FC Glow, Ziscosteel and Gweru Pirates and Chrome Stars v Tripple B. I was given raw instructions by Miss Silengane as to how she and Mr G Banda and Mr Hokonya wanted it done.
"The instruction was that I should fixture referees and that I should go and cause damage without fear.
"I was told by Silengane that the expected results should be a loss for Hardbody, a win for Tripple B and a draw for the other game. I was also asked to travel with the referees in one car, most probably a minibus, I was to influence the referees to get the desired results.
"But some of the referees I had fixtured were replaced as they were thought to be not good for the job at hand,'' Nyoni claimed.
Although those implicated in the audio scam have indicated that they will argue that covertly recorded material cannot not be admissible evidence in a court of law, Zifa have taken the allegations seriously.
They have revealed that they will set up an independent tribunal to deal with the accused referees while the board will handle the allegations against senior administrators such as board members.
"We are taking this matter seriously because it has severe ramifications on the domestic game and we cannot ignore all the pointers to match-fixing that we are getting. We will set up an independent committee that will hear submissions from those suspended referees.
"Those that are not match officials including board members will have their cases referred to the board where they will be suspended provisionally for a prescribed time while investigations are being carried out,'' said Zifa chief executive officer, Jonathan Mashingaidze.
Source - Chronicle
