The real origins of the ZIFA soccer cheating scandal

Chido Makunike

There is a huge, terrible new 'crisis' in Zimbabwe that is causing much public gnashing of teeth and weeping and wailing. It threatened to eclipse this week's Harare constitutional conference. It diverted media and public attention away from the sexscapades of the randy prime minister. What new calamity has befallen hapless Zimbabwe? The national soccer team lost a match in Angola under what are widely considered to be disgraceful circumstances, meaning they are out of competition for the 2013 African Cup of Nations. As a result there were brief fears of a soccer insurrection in parts of the country last week. This came just a few days after a lengthy corruption investigation of officials of the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) and many prominent players. Several big sports-linked personalities have been banned from football for life for throwing games in foreign lands for money. What is the fundamental problem?

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Early impressions of the ZIFA match-fixing scandal

A Zimbabwe Football Association investigative committee has released a long-awaited report on allegations that top officials of the organisation arranged for teams to lose matches in return for money from Asian betting syndicates. It is early days yet in a saga that may drag on for a long time, but it seems clear that many of the people involved will end up with soiled reputations or worse.

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Does FIFA have the moral authority to probe Zim football corruption?

"FIFA anti-corruption team expected in Zimbabwe" sounds like a  headline written by a comedy writer because it can be read in so many rude ways. Is that FIFA team visiting to learn lessons from the country's political establishment about how the chief conducts business with the diminished legitimacy and credibility of having 'won' a tainted election widely seen as stolen?

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Blatter and Mugabe one, FIFA and Zimbabwe zero

How come there are so many similarities between politics at the republic of FIFA and politics in the republic of Zimbabwe? Consider this excerpted article about one of them, un -named for now:

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Could FIFA's Sepp Blatter be practising to be Zimbabwe's next president?

Sepp Blatter has just been voted back into office as president of FIFA, soccer's international governing body. Many people think this will be his last four-year term office. If so, he will be looking for another big challenge to take on.

Zimbabwe is a troubled nation just beginning to tentatively try to work itself out of a decade of political turmoil and economic decline. It's only president for its 31 years of independence, Robert Mugabe, says he will be a candidate in the next election, expected within the next year. If he does indeed stand it can be confidently predicted that he will officially 'win.' Even if so, it seems fairly obvious that in a few years Zimbabwe will be shopping for a new president, Mugabe already being 87 years old.

The coincidence of pending events in Blatter's career and those in Zimbabwe could provide an interesting match-making opportunity. 

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Routine FIFA coronation of Blatter is like many elections in Africa

FIFA, corruption and controversy are words often heard together. It's perhaps most controversial election is amazingly similar to elections in many African countries.

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