News Day
By Tawanda Tafirenyika
10 October 2013
THE Zifa disciplinary Committee has set October 17, 2013 as the date for the hearing of Harare City Football Club chairman Leslie Gwindi over allegations of bringing the game into disrepute following utterances he allegedly made at a Bulawayo Press club in March this year.
The charges against Gwindi, who challenged Zifa president Cuthbert Dube in the last election, comes five months before the next elections set for March next year.
Zifa lawyer Ralph Maganga said yesterday papers to call Gwindi to the disciplinary hearing were ready by Friday and summons would be sent to Gwindi this week.
Maganga said summons should be served 72 hours before the hearing takes place according to the statutory instrument.
“The prosecutor of the Disciplinary Committee advised me that the papers were ready by Friday and that the Disciplinary Committee agreed on the date. Summons will be served this week. They should be served 72 hours before the date of the hearing,†Maganga said.
The former Premier Soccer League (PSL) and Dynamos secretary is alleged to have launched an attack on Zifa, the PSL, former Warriors coach Klaus-Dieter Pagels and Delta Beverages —the sponsors of the league.
The PSL is said to have been riled by Gwindi whose utterances they said had caused discomfort between them and the sponsors.
The PSL allegedly wrote to Zifa asking them to take action since he is a PSL governor and also because his comments also attacked the soccer mother body.
Zifa, in their correspondence to Gwindi, is also said to have indicated that the Harare City chairman had “insulted’’ the then Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister David Coltart.
Part of the letter reads: “On the 8th of March 2013 and at Bulawayo Rainbow Hotel, the respondent unlawfully and intentionally committed an act of misconduct likely to bring the game into disrepute by using bad and insulting language while addressing various media practitioners and other invited guests at the Bulawayo Press Club in that you insulted the Zifa leadership saying that the leaders elected do not know anything about football and the current collapse is a result of total lack of leadership. The leaders (meaning Zifa board and councilors) are in football for egos, personal agendas or political reasons.’’
The statements, Zifa also said, were “in fact intended to cause alarm and despondency so that the game becomes ungovernable much to the detriment of football in Zimbabwe’’.
The soccer controlling body also alleged that Gwindi had insulted Delta Beverages, who sponsor the PSL through their Castle Lager brand.
“You insulted the PSL sponsors, Delta Beverages more specifically Castle Breweries by calling its sponsorship of the league peanuts and a result of those irresponsible statements Castle Breweries have threatened to cancel the sponsorship deal it signed with PSL.
“The statements were made to scare away corporate sponsors from the game so that the PSL and Zifa leadership is seen in bad light by the football loving public.
“You insulted the senior men national team coach Pagels by calling him a tourist to Zimbabwe not capable of coaching football. You further described his appointment as a joke which shows lack of brains on the part of the complainant’s current leadership.
“Pagels was in Zimbabwe on a government to government agreement and his upkeep is borne by the German government using tax payers’ money.
“You clearly breached protocol by rubbishing the coach’s appointment and calling him a tourist who is in Zimbabwe on holiday to enjoy the sunshine, the world famous Victoria Falls and other tourist attractions.
“You did show lack of respect for the Zimbabwean and German governments’ efforts in the development of football in the country,†charged Zifa.