The Sunday News
Senior Sports Reporter
FOOTBALL officials as well as coaches who had their suspensions and expulsions from the game lifted by the national leadership have aired their views, insisting they were innocent all along.
Zimbabwe Football Association president Philip Chiyangwa last Friday announced the lifting of the suspension of Edzai Kasinauyo, Nation Dube, Jerry Sibanda and Ian Gorowa while Ndumiso Gumede who had been expelled from football activities is now allowed to be involved in the game he dedicated the bulk of his life to.
“The following suspensions which I am recommending to my congress are that with immediate effect the suspension of Edzai Kasinauyo is lifted, Nation Dube is lifted, Ian Gorowa is lifted, Jerry Sibanda is lifted, Philani Ncube is lifted, the suspension of Ndumiso Gumede expulsion lifted, the referral of Peter Dube’s suspension has been referred to review committee with immediate effect,’’ said Chiyangwa.
Bulawayo City chairman Sibanda, who had been suspended from the game together with the club head coach, Ncube over the match fixing and age cheating allegations at Amakhosi which saw assistant mentor Farai Mujokoro handed a five-year ban by the Premier Soccer League and three players given 12-month bans by the PSL said he knew he was innocent all along.
“Chiyangwa phoned me to congratulate me on the lifting of my suspension. I work for Bulawayo City Council so it was as good as I was on leave. It’s good for Bulawayo, I knew I was clean. I never had a problem because I was never involved in all these things,’’ Sibanda said.
Ncube, who is now expected to assume his duty as Bulawayo City head coach in preparation for the 2017 season felt it was best to keep his silence for now on the lifting of his suspension.
Gumede jokingly said the expulsion had actually been good for him because it gained him sympathisers. The 71-year-old drew the ire of the Chiyangwa leadership when he, on behalf of former Zifa administrators wrote a letter to Fifa development officer for East and Southern Africa Ashford Mamelodi calling for an urgent intervention by world football governing body to resolve what they termed a crisis in Zimbabwean football.
“I was enjoying the suspension, I was the talk of the town. I have not heard anything on the lifting of the suspension, I am hearing it from you. I was given a letter pointing out which section of the Zifa constitution I had contravened. I have played my part, I am now serving on the Fifa Interpol sports manipulation prevention,’’ said Gumede last Friday.
Former Hwange coach Dube, was together with Zifa executive committee member Kasinauyo, ex-Warriors coach Gorowa as well as the association’s former chief executive officer Henrietta Rushwaya accused of trying to manipulate Warriors matches at the beginning of last year. Rushwaya, Dube and Kasinauyo were, however, cleared of any wrongdoing by Harare Magistrate’s Courts in November last year. Dube was also the Warriors assistant coach at that time when the allegations came up.
Since he was not allowed to coach Hwange for the whole of the 2016 season, Dube focused on his job as a plater welder at the Colliery and is waiting for his employers to tell him the way forward.
“I have not heard anything. I am at home. I never got any communication of my ban in the first place, I was only told by the club. I have been on leave, I work as a plater welder at Hwange Colliery. My employers will give me a way forward. They will tell me what to do,’’ said Dube who has worked at the Colliery for 25 years.
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