Dynamos Under Investigation For Match Fixing

Dynamos received $50 000 in cash after losing their second leg tie 2-1 in Lubumbashi but are alleged to have received a huge sum of around $400 000 to lose their first leg match 2-0 at the National Sports Stadium in Harare.

Although $30 000 of the $50 000 they received in the second leg was distributed among the travelling party of officials and players and the remaining $20 000 was used for office administration purposes, mystery remains of the $400 000 Dynamos are said to have received in Harare in a scam in which Malawi player agent Felix Sapao is said to have played a key role.

Zifa Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Mashingaidze who arrived from the Africa Cup of Nations finals Monday says he is still to be acquainted with the developments that took place when he was not around but added that the Dynamos matches in question have always been viewed with suspicion.

He added that Zifa were going to go to the bottom of all suspicious results and see to it that match fixing was eradicated once and for all without looking at who is involved.

However, unofficial Dynamos website DeMbare.Coms was Monday straight to the point revealing the goings on at the club, “Some trigger happy Zifa Board Members want Dembare to face the firing squad for the TP Mazembe – Moise Katumbi ‘gift’ which they allege was a bribe.”

Katumbi, a multi millionaire businessman and governor of the mineral-rich Katanga province in the Democratic of Congo owns TP Mazembe Football Club and offered Dynamos ‘the gifts’ which are now at the centre of the investigations.

 Another Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League club, Monomotapa, are also at the centre of a match fixing storm after they travelled to Asia purporting to be the Zimbabwean senior national team.

The 2008 Zimbabwe champions lost heavily in all the matches they played and are being accused of having received payments to throw away the matches in favour of an Asian betting syndicate.

There have also been question marks over Monomotapa’s 2-0 and 5-0 losses to TP Mazembe in the 2009 Caf Champions League with all sorts of theories flying around that Monomotapa sold the matches and bought a team bus from the proceeds of the transaction.

Monomotapa officials have denied the accusations.

Zifa have already suspended 82 players and national team coaches Norman Mapeza and Joey Antipas until they clear themselves from the match fixing allegations hanging over their heads.

The players and the coaches are expected to appear before the Zifa Ethics Committee which is headed by retired High Court judge Justice Ahmed Ebrahim.