Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
FIFA are still keen to help Zifa close the Asiagate chapter and have invited the association to South Africa on Sunday for an update indaba on the findings they made on the match-fixing scandal. The

meeting also comes ahead of the resumption of hearings by the Independent Ethics Committee chaired by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Ahmed Ebrahim, which is expected to hear testimonies from South Africa-based players.

Zifa, however, believe that the information they will get from Fifa could also be key in the final phase of the long-dragging Asiagate chapter that has resulted in over 90 layers and officials being suspended from national teams duty.
Fifa global investigator Terry Steans revealed in a message to Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze that he would be in Johannesburg for a visit to the South

African Football Association and wants the Zifa chief to link up with him during that period.
“I will be in Johannesburg on the 2nd and rd of June to visit Safa.
“If you could be in Johannesburg on either of these days I can brief you on our findings to date and share some information with you.

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“I hope you can make the trip Jonathan. It will be good to catch up with you,'” wrote Steans.
Steans also indicated that the Fifa security division would meet Mashingaidze’s travel costs to South Africa.
With the Zifa board which meets in the capital tomorrow, expected to get a brief on progress on the matter, Mashingaidze was hopeful that the meeting with Steans would also provide vital information which he could also pass onto the Ebrahim committee.

Steans visited Zimbabwe last year in the company of outgoing Fifa head of security Chris Eaton, who is leaving the world soccer governing body to take up the pos of director of sport integrity at the International Centre for Sport Security.
But the working relationship between Zifa and Eaton appeared to have soured in the Australian’s final months in office with the association clearly not amused that he had not availed to them key information they felt should have helped them speedily conclude their Asiagate probe.

However, the upcoming indaba between Steans and Mashingaidze appears to have given Zifa a new window of hope given that the association had also sought to meet with Eaton’s successor Ralf Mutschke and exchange notes with him.
“As Zimbabwe we have been keen to meet with Ralf. We don’t want to pre-empt matters but there are a lot of ugly things that were happening behind the scenes which we feel affected our investigations.

“It’s a pity that Eaton didn’t avail himself to us but we wish him well in his new job.
“We still feel we qualify for Fifa funding to conclusively deal with this matter because we are convinced that we are doing something that will benefit the nation and it is jut not about the money to sustain the task that we have.

“So we believe that Ralf will be able to see reason for recapitalizing since Fifa and Interpol have set aside funds for that. Even Fifa president Sepp Blatter gave us a round of applause for our efforts during the meeting in Hungary and noted that we had done well under very difficult circumstances.
“Although we have issues with Eaton we will give Steans a chance and this visit to South Africa comes just before the Ethics committee starts its final phase,'” Mashingaidze said.

The Zifa chief executive also urged South African and European-based players implicated in the Asiagate report to the association’s headquarters and “make arrangements to be interviewed by the Ebrahim committee”.
“We are appealing to all the players who are based in South Africa and other countries and are on a break to contact the Zifa offices as from tomorrow (today) to avail themselves before the Ebrahim committee.

Mashingaidze said they had hoped to use the Safa offices in Johannesburg to have Ethics committee member Lewis Uriri conduct the interviews but a communication breakdown between the associations scuppered the move.
“Although a communication breakdown meant that some of the players who are in South Africa could not be interviewed at the Safa offices, we still want to thank Safa for going the extra mile to facilitate for the players to be interviewed at the Safa House

“We have also had players like Energy Murambadaro taking the initiative to come and make arrangements on his own and this commendable so everyone who is on the off-season break should use this period to come through so that the job is completed,” Mashingaidze said.
Mashingaidze said Zifa also drew some inspiration from the zeal shown by Italian authorities in fighting match-fixing in their country.
“What is happening in Italy goes to show the robust commitment of all societies in combating crime. It sends a strong message to everyone involved in this crime that the machinery will catch up with you.

“What we are doing here if not for one or two individuals but for the image of our game and to restore its credibility and it should not be left to Zifa alone, everyone should join forces because who knows maybe tomorrow match-fixing will be in cricket or rugby,'”said Mashingaidze.