DOUBLE BLOW FOR HWANGE

Sport
ZIFA has written to the Premier Soccer League (PSL) to instruct Hwange Football Club to pay a 10 000 Swiss francs (about $10 600) fine imposed on the national football mother body by Fifa in relation to player Creven Banda’s case.

ZIFA has written to the Premier Soccer League (PSL) to instruct Hwange Football Club to pay a 10 000 Swiss francs (about $10 600) fine imposed on the national football mother body by Fifa in relation to player Creven Banda’s case.

FORTUNE MBELE SPORTS REPORTER

Hwange was fined 10 000 Swiss francs by Fifa early last month for using Banda without following laid down international transfer procedures on the player’s return from Botswana’s Motlakase Power Dynamos.

Effectively, this means Hwange will have to fork out 20 000 Swiss francs (about $21 200) failure to which Chipangano might face sanctions from the international football governing body.

However, Hwange spokesperson Burzil Dube yesterday said the club was not aware of the instruction by Zifa and they had not paid the fine yet as they were still waiting for their response on the request for the proceedings of the Banda case.Burzil-DUBE

The fine was supposed to have been paid within 30 days of receiving the ruling.

“We have not paid the fine and we are not aware of the instruction by Zifa. What we are still waiting for is the response from Zifa on the proceedings of the case to see how Fifa arrived at their decision to impose that fine,” Dube said.

Zifa communications manager Xolisani Gwesela yesterday confirmed they had written to the PSL.

“We have instructed the PSL which is in turn expected to instruct Hwange Football Club to pay 10 000 Swiss francs which Zifa were fined by Fifa in relation to Creven Banda’s case,” he said.

“We have made this decision considering that Hwange Football Club misled the association and the PSL when they submitted the player’s papers for registration.

“We also feel that the fine against Hwange will serve as a message to would-be offenders in as far as player transfer regulations are concerned,” Gwesela added.

“We appeal to all clubs and football stakeholders to adhere to player transfer regulations, failure of which we will also take very stern measures.”

In a four-page judgment dated September 1 2014, the international football mother body found Hwange guilty of failing to correctly reflect the transfer of Banda to Motlakatse Power Dynamos Football Club, a Botswana be Mobile Premier Soccer League club, through the Fifa transfer matching system in 2011.

They were also found guilty of failing to secure a reverse international clearance for Banda on his return to Zimbabwe from the Botswana club.

Zifa chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze yesterday said the fine imposed by Fifa was not reversible and Hwange had made a commitment to pay.JONATHAN-MASHINGAIDZE-2

“It’s not optional and it’s not appealable in terms of football statutes. Member associations and the clubs are expected to comply,” he said.

“The last time I spoke to (Burzil) Dube soon after receiving the judgment late last month, he said they were going to pay.”

However, part of the judgment reads: “The judicial bodies may decide not to communicate the grounds of a decision and instead communicate only the terms of the decision.

“Any request for the grounds of the decision must be sent in writing to the secretariat to the Fifa Disciplinary Committee, within 10 days of receipt of notification of the terms of the decision. Failure to do so will result in the decision becoming final and binding and the party being deemed to have waived its rights to file an appeal (article 116 paragraph 1 of the Fifa disciplinary Code, herein after FDC).”

The judgment was signed by deputy secretary to the disciplinary committee, Thomas Hug.

The Zifa CEO said he would not want to dwell on the legal consequences of Hwange’s failure to pay the fine saying: “We will stand guided by Fifa.”

Hwange is also expected to pay 2 000 Swiss francs which are the costs of the proceedings of the case which was deliberated on by a four-member disciplinary committee of Claudio Sulser, Kia Tong Lim, Constant Omari and Aleksander Ceferin who met in Zurich, Switzerland, on February 27 2014.