FORMER CAPS United coach Tawurayi Mangwiro and Shabanie Mine’s Luke Masomere have had their punishments for match fixing reduced by the ZIFA Special Appeals Committee.
Mangwiro – who had been banned from football for 10 years – is free to start work immediately at United after his sentence was reduced to a suspended one-year ban.
Masomere, on the other hand, will start work upon payment of a US$1,500 fine.
Their cases were heard last week by the committee chaired by Advocate Silas Chekera and with members Advocate Thabani Mpofu and football administrator Chris Mbanga.
Masomere and Mangwiro are among over two dozen former national team officials and players banned from football on the recommendations of the ZIFA Independent Disciplinary Ad Hoc Committee, which was chaired by retired Supreme Court judge, Ahmed Ibrahim.
The players and officials were accused of their involvement in the so-called Asiagate match fixing scandal in which national teams were sent to Asian countries where they were paid to lose matches by pre-determined scores.
The Special Appeals Committee said “there is sufficient evidence to sustain the conviction” against Mangwiro but “considering all the circumstances of the case, the committee finds the penalty – a 10-year ban from all football related activities –to be disproportionate to the degree of his culpability and his moral blameworthiness”.
On Masomere, the appeals committee said it “finds that it has no legitimate basis to interfere with the Ibrahim Commission’s findings of guilt”, but added: “With respect to the appellant’s sentence, the committee recommends that the two-year ban against the appellant be commuted to a fine of US$1,500, taking into account the period that he has already been on suspension”.
The panel said “this penalty meets the justice of the case when all factors are considered.”Advertisement