‘BUM GATE’: Zimbabwe women’s football rocked by sexual harassment  scandal 

By Darlington Gatsi

ZIMBABWE women’s football has been rocked by a sexual harassment scandal with a male member of the technical team facing accusations of indecent behaviour around a player.

The ZIFA Normalisation Committee tried in vain to cover up the incident when the rumour mill went into overdrive early this week.

The sexual harassment scandal is reported to have started when Zimbabwe senior women’s team was in camp at a local lodge in  Harare before departing for South Africa.

However, the Normalisation Committee kept the matter under wraps. The Mighty Warriors media team thwarted questions from journalists over the incident.

ZIFA NC has now broken its silence saying it has instituted internal processes to investigate the allegations.

“The Zimbabwe Football Association has received a report of misconduct amongst members of the Senior Women’s technical team.

“The team travelled with a qualified Safeguarding Officer who is on the ground attending to the matter. The association is taking the matter seriously, and is currently carrying out independent investigations to get to the bottom of the allegations.

“The public is reminded that this is a delicate matter, and should not make unfounded, pronouncements that may jeopardise the investigations. ZIFA condemns all forms of misconduct, and will ensure that anyone found guilty will be punished accordingly,” said ZIFA NC in a statement.

Sexual harassment of women has been a thorny issue in Zimbabwean football with previous ZIFA leadership axed after failing to deal with such cases.