The veteran football administrator is now in the bad books of even the people he least expected would turn their back on him over the scandal that has torn the local football fraternity apart. It has threatened the livelihood of footballers and journalists, incapacitated the national team and put Zimbabwe in the international football spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
“Without mentioning names, I must say there are people who have turned against me through all this and they are people who all along I thought were my best friends,” said Gumede.
“Some people now seem intent on going all out to discredit me and I am even afraid that something bad might happen to me.”
He singled out suspended freelance journalist, Hope Chizuzu, as having written to Fifa claiming that the ZIFA executive member had demanded a bribe from one Warriors’ player.
“That is one of the spurious allegations that have even been made against me,with Chizuzu claiming in his letter to Fifa’s former security chief, Chris Eaton, that I sought a $10,000 bribe from Edward Sadomba to have him cleared. But how could I have had him cleared when I was not even part of the Justice Ebrahim team?”
As ZIFA announced the names of players and officials handed various bans from football activities over the “Asiagate” scandal, many fans said the mother body should expedite the release of the names in the report, as the entire nation has long been kept on the edge of their seats.
There has been a lot of speculation on social network sites, with some names, including those of two journalists, frequently coming out as having faced the most severe punishment of life bans from all football activities.
Post published in: Football