PREMIERSHIP side Herentals have successfully overturned the decision by the PSL disciplinary committee to find them guilty in a match-fixing saga, which has been dragging on since last year.
Oliver Chirenga, who was said to be Herentals team manager and accused of having been the middleman in the scam, also had his life ban from football quashed.
The Students, who were docked three points and slapped with a $300 000 fine after being found guilty of allegedly manipulating the result of their match against Black Rhinos last year, will now keep their place in the Premiership.
Failure to overturn the judgment would have come at a huge cost for Herentals.
They would have dropped into Division One amid reports that ZIFA would also have punished them further by kicking them out of competitive football.
However, a four-member ZIFA Appeals Board, led by Harare lawyer Stead Kachere, a senior partner at Kachere and Guwuriro Legal Practitioners, yesterday quashed that conviction and spared Herentals both the axe and the imminent collapse of the football club.
They ruled that the PSL Disciplinary Committee appeared biased against Herentals, had denied the Students the right for legal representation and relied entirely on the evidence of former Rhinos team manager, Gift Kamuriwo, whose presentation could not be corroborated.
During the PSL Disciplinary Hearing, the ZIFA Appeals Board ruled, Herentals were turned into both the accused and prosecutors, throwing the entire process into a shambles.
‘‘In view of the above findings, the ZIFA Appeals Board hereby allows the appeal, in terms of Rule 7.9.3.1 of the ZIFA Rules and Regulations,’’ read the judgment released last night.
‘‘As a result, it is hereby ordered as follows:
The conviction of the Appellants (Herentals and Chirenga) made by the PSL Disciplinary Committee on the 8th of January 2020 be and is hereby set aside.
As a result, the 1st Appellants (Herentals) and 2nd Appellants (Chirenga) are hereby found Not Guilty and Acquitted.
The 1st and 2nd Appellants are hereby ordered to pay wasted costs to the PSL Disciplinary Committee as per ZIFA Appeals Board ruling on 5 March 202, thereafter each party shall bear its own costs incurred by the partners to the appeal as from the 5th of March 2020.
The 1st and 2nd Appellants shall be responsible, jointly and severally, to pay additional appeal costs as per paragraph 31 of this ruling.
ZIFA shall determine the amount with which the appeal proceeds exceeded the appeal feels paid by the Appellants and shall inform the Appellants.’’
The ZIFA Appeals Board said there were many flaws to the process when the case was heard by the PSL disciplinary committee and, given the gravity of the situation, which involved a cancer called match-fixing which should never be associated with football, it was a surprise the issue was fast-tracked.-State media
