ZIMBABWE'S long-running match-fixing scandal, Asiagate, is nearing completion and could soon pronounce harsh sentences on players and coaches - including a handful competing in the Premier Soccer League.
It is expected bans will be handed out by the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) and be extended worldwide by Fifa, thereby affecting South African clubs with Zimbabwean personnel.
Among those facing lengthy bans are Method Mwanjali (Mamelodi Sundowns), Thomas Sweswe (Wits) and Black Leopards coach Sunday Chidzambwa, according to Zimbabwean officials. A further nine are yet to be exonerated.
Nyasha Mushekwi (Sundowns), Cuthbert Malajila (Maritzburg United), Washington Arubi and Lionel Mtizwa (Pretoria University), Jimmy Jambo and Kingston Nkhatha (Kaizer Chiefs), Gilbert Mapemba (Moroka Swallows), Paul Rusike (Ajax Cape Town) and AmaZulu midfielder Ramson Zhuwawo are all suspended from playing for Zimbabwe for the time being and might also be handed bans.
A total of 99 players, coaches, officials and even journalists have been implicated in the selling of matches by the Zimbabwe national team on several trips to Asia from 2007 to 2009 where they deliberately lost in friendly matches in return for money from fixers.
Some 33 have since been exonerated, including Khama Billiat of Ajax Cape Town whose man of the match performance in Harare at the weekend was the catalyst for Zimbabwe's 3-1 win over Angola in a key Africa Nations Cup qualifier.
Apart from Billiat, the other South African-based players who have been cleared by the commission are Chiefs midfielder Willard Katsande and Oscar Machapa of Swallows.
The investigation has dragged on for more than three years and is still being hampered by legal challenges and a reluctance of some officials to see an end to the matter in case they are also implicated. But Zifa officials have said they are now just weeks from concluding the long process.
Zifa has battled to find cash to continue with the probe and asked Fifa last month to help pay for the time of the legal experts involved in the commission.
Asiagate probe nearing completion
ZIMBABWE'S long-running match-fixing scandal, Asiagate, is nearing completion and could soon pronounce harsh sentences on players and coaches - including a handful competing in the Premier Soccer League.
It is expected bans will be handed out by the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) and be extended worldwide by Fifa, thereby affecting South African clubs with Zimbabwean personnel.
Among those facing lengthy bans are Method Mwanjali (Mamelodi Sundowns), Thomas Sweswe (Wits) and Black Leopards coach Sunday Chidzambwa, according to Zimbabwean officials. A further nine are yet to be exonerated.
Nyasha Mushekwi (Sundowns), Cuthbert Malajila (Maritzburg United), Washington Arubi and Lionel Mtizwa (Pretoria University), Jimmy Jambo and Kingston Nkhatha (Kaizer Chiefs), Gilbert Mapemba (Moroka Swallows), Paul Rusike (Ajax Cape Town) and AmaZulu midfielder Ramson Zhuwawo are all suspended from playing for Zimbabwe for the time being and might also be handed bans.
A total of 99 players, coaches, officials and even journalists have been implicated in the selling of matches by the Zimbabwe national team on several trips to Asia from 2007 to 2009 where they deliberately lost in friendly matches in return for money from fixers.
Some 33 have since been exonerated, including Khama Billiat of Ajax Cape Town whose man of the match performance in Harare at the weekend was the catalyst for Zimbabwe's 3-1 win over Angola in a key Africa Nations Cup qualifier.
Apart from Billiat, the other South African-based players who have been cleared by the commission are Chiefs midfielder Willard Katsande and Oscar Machapa of Swallows.
The investigation has dragged on for more than three years and is still being hampered by legal challenges and a reluctance of some officials to see an end to the matter in case they are also implicated. But Zifa officials have said they are now just weeks from concluding the long process.
Zifa has battled to find cash to continue with the probe and asked Fifa last month to help pay for the time of the legal experts involved in the commission.
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