Zurich – Global soccer body Fifa said on Thursday it had banned former South African soccer head Kirsten Nematandani and two other officials over violations related to friendly matches played in 2010.
Former South African Football Association president Kirsten Nematandani was banned from all soccer-related activity for five years, while former Zimbabwe Football Association official Jonathan Musavengana and former Togo national team coach Banna Tchanile both received life-long bans.
“The three cases decided related to international friendly matches played in South Africa in 2010, as well as to cases decided by the adjudicatory chamber in October 2015 and March 2016,” Fifa's ethics committee said in a statement.
Here is the full text of the statement released by Fifa:
The adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee chaired by Hans‑Joachim Eckert has banned Mr Kirsten Nematandani, former president of the South African Football Association (SAFA), Mr Jonathan Musavengana, former official of the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA), and Mr Banna Tchanile, former coach of the Togo national team, from all football-related activities (administrative, sports or any other) at both national and international level.
The three cases decided related to international friendly matches played in South Africa in 2010, as well as to cases decided by the adjudicatory chamber in October 2015 and March 2016. The investigations, initiated in September 2015, were conducted by Djimrabaye Bourngar, deputy chairman of the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee, and the
In this regard, Mr Nematandani was found guilty of having violated art. 13 (General rules of conduct), art. 15 (Loyalty) and art. 18 (Duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting) of the FIFA Code of Ethics(FCE) and was sanctioned with a ban from taking part in any football-related activities for five years. Furthermore, the adjudicatory chamber decided that Mr Musavengana and Mr Tchanile had both infringed art. 13 and art. 21 (Bribery and corruption) of the FCE and imposed a life ban on the two former officials.
As Mr Musavengana and Mr Tchanile failed to provide the adjudicatory chamber with their fax numbers, the terms of these decisions are exceptionally being made public on FIFA.com, as a form of notification, which is in line with art. 36 par. 2 of the FCE.
The bans are effective as of 8 December 2016, the date on which the decisions were published on FIFA.com.
Reuters and IOL