Former Warriors coach Ian “Dibango” Gorowa says he will not recognise the 10-year ban handed to him by the dissolved Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) over match-fixing allegations.
Gorowa, together with former Zifa officials Henrietta Rushwaya, Jonathan Musavengana, Edzai Kasinauyo and ex-Warriors assistant coach Nation Dube were accused of match fixing by the dissolved association.
Zifa alleged the officials tried to infiltrate the Warriors set-up earlier this year in order to fix the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Swaziland back in March.
Gorowa and his group are alleged to have tried to approach certain Warriors players in South Africa to entice them with substantial amounts of money to guarantee Zimbabwe lost both matches against Sihlangu.
The match fixers are also accused of trying to fix a number of matches in the South African Absa Premiership.
However, South African Football Association (Safa) and Super Diski officials are no longer pursuing any investigations.
Zifa on the other hand swiftly moved in to ban the alleged culprits during their last annual general meeting at the start of this month where Rushwaya and Musavengana were handed life bans.
Gorowa and Kasinauyo were handed 10-year bans each while Dube was given a five-year expulsion from all football activities.
Football agent Kudzi Shaba, who was also alleged to have been part of the syndicate, was acquitted of any wrong doing.
Gorowa insists he has done nothing wrong and Zifa, which was dissolved to bring the birth of the National Football Association of Zimbabwe (Nafaz), have no jurisdiction to prosecute him.
In an emailed statement to the Daily News, the former Moroka Swallows coach listed nine points to highlight that Zifa had erred.
1. Zifa has no jurisdiction over myself .I am not affiliated to Zifa.
2. There was no procedure of a disciplinary hearing which is clear in the constitution.
3. Besides that I’m sure Zifa realised they cannot conduct that hearing or disciplinary measure against me as I’m not a member or affiliate to them hence just deciding to do that un-procedurally.
4. Zifa proposed and gave all their alleged accusations to Safa and the PSL here in South Africa who in turn threw their case away.
5. No written correspondence or form of communication to me since the alleged offences were first announced. This was done only through the press. Again Zifa knew they cannot do anything as I’m affiliated to the PSL here in SA.
6. Zifa owes me about $80 000.
7. It is null and void in any court whether sport or criminal as an accused is given a chance to prove himself, again because of the jurisdiction Zifa has no case.
8. It looks like a personal vendetta.
9. My reputation and integrity are being put in jeopardy because of malicious intents.
Gorowa, who was in charge of the Warriors when they reached the semi-finals of the 2014 African Nations Championship (Chan) in South Africa, said he was now praying to the Lord to ensure his accusers will face justice one day.
“Having said all the above, I still maintain my innocence with integrity and high level of esteem in football,” he said.
“Football has made me who I am today and I will never do otherwise to the God-given talent. I’m still hoping to get an apology from all those who have fabricated this whole farce.
“I’m even going further to say I’m praying to God to make sure that the false accusers should be shamed. Furthermore someone or some people are lying before God , and I say the Lord’s wrath should imply.”
Gorowa, who made his name at Black Rhinos and Dynamos before moving to South Africa, went on to quote a number of Bible verses.
“There were affidavits done and they were all lies against me. I will quote the Bible on Psalms 27 and Proverbs 19:5 ‘A false witness will not go unpunished and whoever pours out lies will not go free’.
“Proverbs 12:19: ‘Truthful lips endure forever but a lying tongue lasts only a moment’.
“Lastly, I will say if Jesus Christ comes back on earth today and He asks me to confess my sins for me to go to heaven these accusations will never be part of my confession.
“So somewhere somehow the truth will come out but I refuse to be accused for something I didn’t do.”