ZIFA will charge former Warriors coach Sunday Chidzambwa and ex-Zifa chief executive officer (CEO) Henrietta Rushwaya for violating the Zifa constitution by taking football matters to court, when the Zifa board holds an emergency board meeting in the capital tomorrow. REPORT BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
Former Premier Soccer League fixtures secretary Godfrey Japajapa also faces charges for the same offence.
Zifa banned 15 individuals including Chidzambwa and Rushwaya from football activities for life after they were found guilty of influencing players to lose matches on Asian tours between 2007 and 2009.
Several other players and individuals were served with bans of between six months and 10 years for their alleged roles in the worst scam in the history of Zimbabwean football.
However, Chidzambwa, Rushwaya and Japajapa have all filed appeals at the High Court seeking to have the bans nullified in contravention of the football statutes.
And Zifa said they would charge the three for violating football statutes.
“It’s clear they violated the Zifa constitution and they will be charged. It’s an offence to take football matters to court according to Zifa statutes. The board will be meeting on Saturday (tomorrow) and that issue will also be discussed,” said Zifa CEO Jonathan Mashingaidze.
This comes after Fifa on Wednesday wrote to Zifa, advising them to come hard on any players and officials who would use law courts to fight sanctions imposed on them.
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Marco Villiger, Fifa’s director of legal affairs and Marc Cavaliero, Fifa’s head of discipline and governance, said in a letter to Zifa that Article 64, paragraph 2 of the Zifa statutes, stipulates that “recourse to ordinary courts of law is prohibited unless specifically provided for in the Fifa regulation”.
“We refer to the letter dated 30 October 2012 received from the official Sunday Marimo Chidzambwa regarding the bans for players and officials convicted of the match-fixing and illegal betting scandal involving Zimbabwe’s national team.
“We refer in particular to the correspondence received from the legal representative of the official Sunday Marimo Chidzambwa . . . In particular, we took note that the official Sunday Marimo Chidzambwa together with three other individuals involved in the above mentioned matter (in particular officials Henrietta Rushwaya and Godfrey Japajapa) has apparently lodged an application before the High Court in Zimbabwe against a decision rendered by the Zifa Independent Disciplinary Ad-hoc committee.
“In view of the above and considering that associations shall ensure that this stipulation is implemented at national level and if need be, impose sanctions on any party that fails to respect the obligations previously mentioned (Article 64, Article 3 of Fifa statutes), we respectfully ask you to keep us informed of any claim lodged with an ordinary court by players, and/or officials involved in the above mentioned matter that comes to your attention and in that event, of the appropriate action the Zifa will take against the aforementioned officials in order to guarantee the respect of Fifa statutes.”
