Zimbabweans to hear PSL fate in March
Players suspended by the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) will hear in March if they will be allowed to continue turning out for Premier Soccer League (PSL) clubs.
A number of SA-based players were among 82 members of the Zimbabwe national team suspended earlier this week for their alleged involvement in a match-fixing scandal.
Zifa said the players would continue to turn out for their PSL clubs when the league season resumed next week, but further action could be taken when an internal inquiry ended in March.
"They shall be used by clubs until mid-March," Zifa board member Benedict Moyo said on Friday.
"Punishment that will be used will be in line with article 62 of the Fifa ethics code."
The Zifa inquiry was put in place to investigate matches played in Kenya and Asia between 2007 and 2010.
A 162-page report was set to be made available to the public.
The match-fixing scandal apparently involved a number of the association's administrators and players, a Zimbabwean sports journalist and a Singaporean named Wilson Raj Perumal, who was handed a two-year jail term for fixing.
The alleged ring leader was former Zifa chief executive Henrietta Rushwaya, who was arrested on charges of corruption, bribery and match-fixing on Thursday.
Among the list of suspended players who turned out in the PSL, according to Zifa, were Nyasha Muskekwi, Method Mwanjali, Khama Billiat and Thomas Sweswe.
Zimbabwe's first national captain and former Black Leopards coach Sunday Chidzambwa was also said to have coached a number of games during the betting scandal.
A game that could be in question was Zimbabwe's friendly against Bafana Bafana shortly before the 2010 World Cup, while investigations started last year into Bafana's World Cup warm-up game against Guatemala and match referee Ibrahim Chaibu.
With Rushwaya out of the picture, Moyo hoped to get to the bottom of the scandal.
Moyo said Rushwaya's office, which was part of the previous Zifa regime, destroyed most of the evidence.
"There are people in Zimbabwe who want this matter nullified," Moyo said.
"I mean, our vice-president even had to dress up like a woman [for safety].
"The office of the then CEO destroyed the paper trail."