Nengomasha, Chazika named in Zim football scandal

Nengomasha, Chazika named in Zim football scandal

NENGOMASHA

• EXPOSED: Footy cheating scandal

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• Ndlovu hat-trick sparks riots Swaziland

• Hands off Rahman Gumbo!

• Zimbabwe in draw with Algeria

• Come on Zimbabwe!

• Gumbo guides Warriors to 1-1 draw in Gabon

• Marimo quits Warriors

• Sono tipped for Warriors

• Warriors tamed by Pharoahs

• Peter: The secret mistress

• Ndlovu snubs move to China

By Oswald Sibanda
Sports Editor

FRESH new revelations of cheating in Zimbabwean football emerged Thursday as soccer fans demanded an investigation into the shock expose’ by New Zimbabwe.com.

Zimbabwe national team star midfielder and South African Player of the Year Tinashe Nengomasha, Dynamos goalkeeper Tendai Tanyanyiwa and former Dynamos defender Nyasha Chazika are the latest names in the long list of players accused of fiddling with their ages.

Our exclusive expose` published Thursday revealed how players were manipulating their ages to fit into junior teams or meet requirements by European and other leading clubs who are increasingly turning to young players.

Investigations by this website revealed that Tanyanyiwa is in fact Silent Tanyanyiwa. Tendai is his young brother. Similarly, Tinashe Nengomasha who has adopted the name Washington at his South African club Kaizer Chiefs is in fact Tendai Nengomasha. Tinashe is his young brother.

“If Nengomasha is 21 as he says, then his age stagnated because he was 19 when he played for Black Aces in 1999,” one of the player’s associates told New Zimbabwe.com on Thursday.

But the biggest shock in the latest revelations is Nyasha Chazika who has adopted the name Nicholas Chazika at Supersport. Chazika who claims to be 19 in fact played alongside former Dynamos legends like Peter Fanuel and Claudius Zviripayi who both retired in 1997.

“That effectively puts his age around that time at 13 or 14 years which simply doesn’t add up,” said a source close to Dynamos Football Club. “In fact his move to South Africa nearly failed after a birth certificate produced at the South African embassy showed he was 14 and the embassy could not grant a permit to a minor.”

As we dug deeper into the scandal, it emerged that Zimbabwe would not have collected their 1995 All Africa Games silver medal after the Warriors lost to Egypt in the Final. Remember Elasto Lungu?

“He changed his name to Kapowezha especially for the tournament. That shows you how entrenched this cheating is in our local game,” a source told New Zimbabwe.com.

Soccer fans called for an investigation as the scope of the cheating seemed to widen dramatically. Irate fans flooded our mail box to express their disgust at the way football authorities had acted over the years and their refusal to act against the latest revelations.

One of our readers who identified himself as Dingiswayo kaZulu blamed some headmasters and sports masters for encouraging cheating at youth tournaments.

“This should be dealt with right from the registrar general's office through to Zifa,” he said.

“I have names of so many players who cheated,” a former Darryn T player who refused to be named said. “Just look at how the youth teams coached by Lloyd Chigowe and Ali ‘Baba’ Dube used to dowse opposition teams on the continent. The youths would later on fizzle out because they were past it.”

A Zifa spokesman insisted “no complaint had been received” and an investigation was “unlikely”.
Our dossier is now available to Zifa, the PSL and Caf
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ozzie@newzimbabwe.com