ZIFA are this morning expected to complete debate on the remainder of the Asiagate bans and edge towards ending the suspense that has gripped the rest of the players and officials who are awaiting their fate over the long-dragging match-fixing scam.
After handing life and 10 year bans to 19 individuals, the Zifa board will convene again in the capital to discuss and issue the outstanding penalties which will range from five, years down to six-month bans and possibly some suspended sentences.
Zifa’s last four meetings have been dominated by the Asiagate matter.
The contentious issue of the match-fixing scandal and the penalties being meted out will also dominate proceedings when the board’s emergency committee deliberates on four items that have been listed on the agenda.
The other items up for discussion include a review of the Warriors failed 2013 African Cup of Nations campaign, with the board expected to look at the report they have asked under fire coach Rahman Gumbo to provide.
They will also lay the groundwork for the November 24 Zifa assembly extraordinary indaba, the first to be held by the council, since the Justice Ahmed Ebrahim Commission completed its Asiagate probe. The board’s emergency board meeting will also table plans for a strategic retreat in which Zifa are looking at finding ways to come out of a forgettable year when the Warriors failed to qualify for the Nations Cup while more worryingly, both the national Under-17 and Under-20 teams failed to fulfill fixtures and now await to be handed with bans from the continental game by the Confederation of African Football.
Zifa chief executive, Jonathan Mashingaidze, said yesterday that they would discuss the final batch of the punishments to be handed down but could not commit himself into confirming whether the pronouncements of the penalties would also be made public at the end of their meeting today.
“This meeting is a special one for the emergency committee of the board and those with strategic portfolios that is the president, the vice-president, board members finance, marketing, and development and the CEO.