HIS critics say he lived by the sword and, fittingly, when the end of his turbulent romantic fling with ZIFA came to an abrupt end yesterday, he was also swept away by a sword.

Jonathan Mashingaidze outlived three ZIFA bosses — Rafik Khan, Wellington Nyatanga and Cuthbert Dube — somehow survived a World Cup ticket scam that eventually claimed the scalp of FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke and saw his opponents and critics fall by the wayside one after the other.

Estimates say the global World Cup ticket racketeering scam generated in excess of US$100 million in the past 10 years.

Makomborero Mutimukulu, The Sunday Mail Sports Editor, called him the “Ultimate Survivor”, football’s version of flamboyant and resilient flame-haired World Wrestling Federation superman, Rick Flair, also known as the “Nature Boy,” the one who used to take all the punches and blows but somehow never went down.

In a dozen years at 53 Livingstone Avenue, three of which were spent on the sidelines as he served a suspension, Mashingaidze perfected the art of surviving at a place known for its high turnover of personnel and, whenever people started to write the epitaph on his tombstone, he would rise like a phoenix from the ashes to live another day.

And another week, another month and another year. He was a master of the politics of survival at ZIFA House, those who opposed him — and they were many along the way — found themselves falling on the wayside as the man affectionately known as “Papa” or simply as “Mash” lived to fight and rule for another day.

A man blessed with an infectious smile, which he used to charm both foes and opponents alike, Mashingaidze was also the ultimate spin-doctor, the man who could convince you to buy sand when you were looking for rice, and he charmed many of those who were his bosses by staying very close to them.

His critics claim he deceived his bosses with threats that the world was against them, he was the only one in their corner, and he made such a huge impression on Dube that he became the Harare business executive’s most loyal lieutenant and, together, for five years, they ruled Zimbabwe football, sometimes with an iron fist.

More than half-a-dozen ZIFA board members were axed during that period of turbulence, the association’s debt ballooned from about $500 000 to a staggering $7 million, the Messenger of Court became a regular visitor at 53 Livingstone Avenue to ransack whatever little they could lay their hands on and even the artificial surface provided by FIFA for use to develop the game here ended up being attached by the creditors.

The Under-17 and Under-20 national teams were suspended from CAF competitions and Highlanders found themselves being banned from the CAF inter-club competitions for three years after they had been entered without their approval by the ZIFA Secretariat for a competition they never wanted to take part in.

But the biggest bombshell came when FIFA announced the expulsion of the Warriors from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers without kicking a ball, after the world football controlling body found ZIFA guilty of failing to pay former Warriors coach Valinhos.

The indictment on the ZIFA Secretariat came amid revelations from FIFA that a number of warnings sent to 53 Livingstone Avenue over a period of about four years, warning the domestic football governing body of the gravity of the situation, were ignored and ended up piling up on the incoming desk of the chief executive officer.

Even when the Premier Soccer League provided the money to offset the debt owed to Valinhos, when FIFA opened a window for Zimbabwe to save its 2018 World Cup campaign, the ZIFA board — which many analysts believed to be the combination of Mashingaidze and Dube — somehow decided to pay Pandhari Lodge rather than the Brazilian gaffer.

Last year, as the winds of change appeared to be sweeping across 53 Livingstone Avenue after the ZIFA Councillors, shaken by the Warriors’ expulsion from the 2018 World Cup, decided to confront their leadership, demanding that Dube step down and accusing the secretariat of gross negligence of duty, our sister newspaper, Chronicle, published stunning allegations claiming Mashingaidze had been involved in a web of financial impropriety.

The newspaper claimed Mashingaidze had borrowed $10 000 from Division One side, Bulawayo Chiefs, $10 000 from the Zimbabwe Soccer Referees Association, $5 000 from the ZIFA Northern Region and a further $5 500, in equipment from a sports shop in the City of Kings, which appeared to have disappeared down the drain.

They said the parties were told that the money was needed to fund ZIFA operations, including the Warriors’ trip to Tanzania for a 2015 Nations Cup qualifier, but not even a cent of that amount was reflected on the association’s creditors’ list as should be the case in such transactions.

Bulawayo Chiefs even refused to pay their affiliation fees for the 2013 season as they argued that they were still owed money by ZIFA and the association should convert part of those funds into their affiliation fees while the owner of the shop, where the sports equipment was sourced, is battling to secure his money through the courts.

And when Brian Chishanga, the longest-serving ZIFA councillor finally broke ranks with his colleagues last year to publicly say Mashingaidze had become an alibi to the association, some analysts suggested that this was the beginning of the end.

“We have been caucusing as councillors and most of us are of the view that we can get a fresh and much needed impetus if the CEO was to step aside,” thundered Chisanga in June last year.

“It is for this reason that I will meet (Dube) and tell him that the councillors are not happy with the way Mashingaidze is carrying out his duties and kindly request that he be re-assigned or steps aside.”

Bothwell Mhlengwe, a columnist for The Herald, who played Premiership football for Sporting Lions, was even more vicious in his attack of Mashingaidze.

“The CEO has turned into the supreme power and the board has been reduced into a white elephant and the other board members turned into chess game pawns that Mashingaidze can use as and when he pleases,” Mahlengwe wrote on his blog in this newspaper.

Having fought in Dube’s corner to try and derail councillors from holding the indaba which, ultimately, swept away the former ZIFA president, Mashingaidze — somehow — survived to live another day and when Philip Chiyangwa suggested that he would not be fired, his staying power appeared to have been paraded in full.

But, as Charles Mabika famously said during his days as a football commentator on radio, when listening to his commentaries was a pleasure, “you never know with soccer,” and yesterday, Mashingaidze’s romantic flirtation with ZIFA finally came to an end.

Those women football leaders, who accused him of saying their game was petty before they ended being dragged before the courts for allegedly misappropriating funds meant for the Mighty Warriors’ sponsorship, will say he lived by the word and, ultimately, he was also knocked out by a sword.