Nation Dube
Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE Zifa disciplinary committee led by Andrew Msengezi that was replaced in August made stunning revelations that could leave the association with egg on its face.
The committee was replaced by that of Victor Matipano and Musa Ntonga.
In a letter written to Fifa development officer for Eastern and Southern Africa Ashford Mamelodi on September 16, Msengezi alleged that former Warriors’ assistant coach Nation Dube was slapped with a five-year ban without conclusion of the hearing.
Msengezi said his committee only heard about Dube’s suspension through the media after having only done preparatory work for his case and those of his co-accused former Zifa chief executive officer Henrietta Rushwaya and ex-Zifa board member Edzai Kasinauyo.
“On April 25, 2016, the committee sat to hear the matter and evidence was heard from two witnesses and the matter was postponed for further evidence. The committee was not reconvened to hear further evidence and no reasons were advanced from the Zifa offices why that was so,” reads part of the letter.
“The next we gathered in respect of these cases was a report in the local press that judgments had been pronounced on these persons by the new committee. It is pertinent to note that the Nation Dube case was not finalised by the disciplinary committee. The disciplinary committee is not aware what procedure was employed to make the decisions on these cases pending before it,” the letter continued.
In June, Zifa handed Rushwaya a life ban from football after “finding” her guilty of fixing matches in South Africa and those involving Zimbabwe’s 2015 African Nations Championships (Chan) campaign.
At that time, Zifa president Philip Chiyangwa announced that the Zifa disciplinary committee had found Rushwaya and three others guilty of match-fixing, but information on the outcome of the process and how the match-fixing actually took place were scant.
Former Zifa programmes officer Jonathan Musavengana was also handed a life ban, while Kasinauyo and Ian Gorowa were each given 10-year bans and Dube was banished from the game for five years.
Msengezi questioned which committee found the five guilty when they never heard the cases and were only replaced in August.
Zifa communications manager Xolisani Gwesela declined to comment on the matter saying: “I haven’t seen that correspondence you’re talking about.
“As for the committees, the real committees are there on the Zifa website.”
@ZililoR