Zimbabwe football Association (ZIFA) president Philip Chiyangwa on Friday addressed a gathering of councilors from the Southern and Central regions as well as members of the media at a Bulawayo hotel where he lifted the suspensions handed to retired Highlanders Chief Executive Officer Ndumiso Gumede, Former ZIFA Executive committee member Edzai Kasinauyo, ex Warriors coach Ian Gorowa, Bulawayo City Chairman Jerry Sibanda, Hwange Coach Nation Dube and Bulawayo City Coach Philani Ncube. 

“The following suspensions, which I am recommending to the congress, have been lifted with immediate effect,” said Chiyangwa.

Gumede was suspended after ZIFA alleged he wrote to FIFA peddling falsehoods about a legitimate football leadership and seeking to dissolve a constitutionally elected Executive Committee while the trio of Kasinauyo, Dube and Gorowa were accused of organising the “Limpopogate” match-fixing scandal which however fell through at the courts after the judge dismissed the evidence presented as questionable.

Bulawayo City’s Jerry Sibanda and Philani Ncube were suspended as they were alleged to have been complicit in the attempt to manipulate the outcome of a Premier Soccer League match between Border Strikers and Bulawayo City last season. 

However, Highlanders chairman Peter Dube was the only one left suspended and his case was referred to the ZIFA review committee led by lawyer Itai Ndudzo. 

Dube was suspended by ZIFA in November last year for allegedly contravening sections of the national association’s constitution. The PSL Chairman is said to have interrupted a ZIFA Assembly meeting by urging PSL club representatives to denounce lawfully made resolutions.

Chiyangwa also spoke publicly for the first time about the termination of Warriors coach Kalisto Pasuwa’s contract.  

“ZIFA has to employ very very quickly the various coaches who have left office according the report by the High Performance Committee (HPC) that is the position left by Pasuwa, who is leaving at the end of February and Mlauzi who has left. 

Pasuwa was handed his contract termination letter this week following strong recommendations by the High performance committee that the board should not renew the Pasuwa’s contract mentioning Warriors’ results at the 2016 COSAFA Castle Cup in Namibia, the 2015 African Nations Championships in Rwanda and the Nations Cup finals in Gabon as a basis to support their argument that Pasuwa had failed to take the national team to another level. 

Chiyangwa said they are in the process of looking for replacements for all national football team coaches and this time they are looking at employing patriotic people.

“…conditions for admission to the national teams will be much more stringent, they must give us security that we are not assembling people who will bring down the curtain on us, thrust us into serious embarrassment from actions which are un athletic, unpatriotic,” quipped Chiyangwa.

ZIFA are also hunting for a new technical director to replace Tau Mangwiro who has resigned after being offered a job by Triangle.