By Emmanuel Marambe and Cloud Fusire
SPORTS WRITERS
ZIFA’s presidential election has turned nasty amid plots by certain candidates to discredit others via foul means and other dirty tactics, including fake or cooked up corruption dossiers.
This comes as experts say there is “nothing in the local football mother body’s constitution that says anyone accused of any misconduct is precluded from entering the race” and there have been recent rumours that people like Martin Kweza could not contest since they are “civil servants”.
“We have not received the specific cases in the documents you have shared,” Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) spokesperson Simiso Mlevu said Monday.
“However, we are investigating allegations of bribery, targeting all Zifa presidential candidates. There have been reports that the candidates have been bribing Zifa councillors,” she said in response to questions about a dossier reportedly sent to the anti-graft agency and Zifa normalisation committee (NC) against three aspiring candidates, including Kweza, Walter Magaya and Phillimon Machana.
While the complaint to the Northern Region Soccer League (NRSL) chairman’s nomination – also fighting a curious Maxwell Mabuto lawsuit – cites two criminal cases unearthed by one Terrence Pachirere, the letter opposing Magaya’s candidature also cite a number of cases against the Yadah Stars owner and financial misconduct charges against Machana during his stint the local football association.
Although Zifa has confirmed receipt of the letters, ZACC and Kweza’s employers, for example, the Zimbabwe National Water Authority, have vehemently denied the authenticity of the “corruption dossiers”.
“Yes, we received the documents,” NC member and legal expert Nyasha Sanyamandwe said in a terse response yesterday.
The other candidates that have filed their nomination papers for Zifa’s presidency, include Farai Jere, Temba Mliswa, Nqobile Magwizi, Benjani Mwaruwari, Marshall Gore, Twine Phiri and Makwinji Soma-Phiri.
It is those same names that will likely be officially announced as Zifa presidential candidates on December 23 when the Elections Committee makes public the official list, provided all 10 individuals pass the verification process.
While the overall January 25 election race remains congested with up to 100 candidates vying for several posts and highly-competitive, the dirty campaign and attacks against trio also come as Mliswa has said Kweza, Jere and Magwizi must be kicked out of the race, and poll owing to various “conflict of interest issues”.
Specifically, he wants the first two competitors to be – eliminated and – excluded since they lead the NRSL and Premier Soccer League, respectively, and the latter to be booted out for his participation in the National Sports Stadium bucket seat, and overall rehabilitation programme.