Asiagate gets Zimbabwe coach Norman Mapeza elbowed out
Zim coachless as Asiagate kicks in
Posted: 2012-02-06 13:21
The boiling Zimbabwe Asiagate has sucked in national team coach Norman Mapeza who is to be elbowed out of his seat and will definitely miss the 2013 Afcon qualifier against Burundi later this month.
Mapeza a former Ajax Cape Town defender has also been implicated in the Asiagate net that has already left up to 90 players temporarily suspended from international football unless they are cleared by the Independent Ethics Committee.
He travelled as head coach to one of the tournaments that are under investigation.
The Warriors coach will be asked to step aside along with his assistant Joey Antipas who has already admitted to having received dirty money in the scandal that despite being a wise clean up of the rot is threatening to leave Zimbabwean football crippled.
Zimbabwe will now be forced to appoint an interim coach with German mentor Dieter Klaus-Pagels expected to take over this week.
Benedict 'Grinder' Moyo the Zifa Board Member, Competitions and Development says no one is being spared the rod in the clean up exercise.
"We first dealt with the Zifa board members, then players after which it is the coaches because everyone who was involved has to be dealt with. The coaches are on in the same boat as the players because they all got dirty money," says Moyo.
Mapeza will only be able to resume duties as the Warriors only when he has been cleared by the Ethics Committee who have indicated that they are targeting completing their work at the end of March.
Zifa has made it clear that everyone implicated in the scandal including PSL stars will be frozen from the national team until they appear and are cleared by the Ethics Committee.
In the meantime, several Zimbabwean players plying their trade in the PSL fingered in the match fixing scandal have already started phoning ZIFA with the aim of arranging appointments with the Ethics Committee as they seek to clear their names following the arrest of former Zifa CEO Henrietta Rushwaya.
The Ethics Committee is an Independent Disciplinary Ad-Hoc Board led by Retired Judge Ahmed Ebrahim that has been set up to help in the finalisation of the matter and is expected to clear many players who were merely passive during the trips.
A blanket temporary suspension from national team duty has been imposed on players numbering over 90 which is effective until they have been cleared by the Ethics Committee.
The suspended players have been put into three categories passive (those who played in two or less games), active (minimum of three games) and hyperactive (more than four games).
The basis of the final punishment meted out will be based on these categories with those that fall into the hyperactive group likely to receive harsh penalties.
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