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Senior Court Reporter

THE trial of former Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) president Felton Kamambo failed to continue on Wednesday at the Harare Magistrates Court as the magistrate presiding over the case was not available.

Kamambo is being charged with bribery after he allegedly bribed Zifa councillors to vote for him during the 2018 Zifa elections.

Harare regional magistrate Mrs Bianca Makwande wanted Kamambo to explain the nature and purpose of the amounts that he allegedly paid to the councillors towards the election date.

Kamambo’s defence case opened a fortnight ago when he sketched his football administration background.

“I have been in sports administration for 32 years and I have been chairman of seven clubs. I was also a central region committee member for over 10 years,” he said.

“I was later made the head of the central region for five years, then I went to the ZIFA Head Office for two years when I was elected ZIFA president”.

Asked to comment on the nature of his relationship with the complainant, Phillip Chiyangwa, Kamambo said when he campaigned to become the president, he had been a ZIFA councillor in 2015 and whenever he wanted to meet councillors, Chiyangwa would come through him.

“I noted that he didn’t know much about football but at that time, ZIFA didn’t have money and was sinking in debt and he told us that he wanted to help us raise money and we agreed to vote for him. At that time, we had a good relationship,” he said.

“That time I was campaigning to become a committee member so we campaigned together and everyone wanted to vote for him because we all wanted to clear the debts.

“He reimbursed us money for costs incurred to attend his meetings.”

Meanwhile, the matter in which Dynamos FC chairman Bernard Marriot Lusengo is accused of fraudulently acquiring total ownership of the club was postponed to July 6 pending a High Court determination on his appeal against the court’s decision to recuse his lawyer of choice.

Marriot appeared before magistrate Mrs Barbra Mateko.