THEY called him the “Butcher of ZIFA,” – the man who was accused by a string of female referees of allegedly abusing them.
For years, the abused women fought for justice but were
ignored by the former ZIFA leaders, who kept him as one of the top officials,
in charge of local referees.
H-Metro played a leading role in the investigations, and
became a reference point for the global media’s coverage of the scandal.
Yesterday, justice finally caught up with OBERT ZHOYA.
FIFA banned the former secretary-general of the ZIFA
Referees Committee from all football-related activities for five years after
finding him guilty of sexually harassing three female officials.
Zhoya, who quit his post in the wake of the scandal, was
also fined 20,000 Swiss francs (£17,600) after an investigation by FIFA’s
independent ethics committee.
He now faces the possibility of being pursued by local
authorities.
His ban comes after one alleged victim said she had been
“humiliated, intimidated and degraded” by Zhoya, claiming she had received a
series of WhatsApp messages from him asking her to spend the night with him in
a hotel.
“The adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee
has banned Mr Obert Zhoya, former secretary general of the Referees Committee
of the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) from all football-related
activities for a duration of five years, after having found him guilty of
abusing his position to sexually harass three female Zifa referees,” read a
statement from FIFA on Thursday.
“Upon careful analysis of the written statements of the
victims as well as the various evidence collected during the investigations
conducted by the investigatory chamber, the adjudicatory chamber was
comfortably satisfied that Mr Zhoya had breached art. 23 (Protection of
physical and mental integrity), art. 25 (Abuse of position) and, by corollary,
art. 13 (General duties) of the Code of Ethics.”
Allegations of sexual harassment against Zhoya were first
reported by the Zimbabwe Newspapers stable in September 2020.
But, it was not until the alleged victims reported the
claims to police, in December 2021, that a formal investigation was launched.
In November 2020 the allegations were sent to FIFA, the
Confederation of African Football, and the Council of Southern Africa Football
Associations.
Joyce Cook, FIFA’S chief social responsibility and
education officer, said FIFA initially referred the allegations to CAF for
three months because it “did not have the competence to investigate and judge
such conducts”.
One alleged victim wrote to ZIFA expressing concern that
her complaints were not being taken seriously.
“I would like to put on record that he had been making
these unwelcome sexual advances since September 2019,” she wrote.
“The allegations I make herein are backed by evidence in
the form of phone call voice recordings. I then got the courage from the
evidence I had, and learning that I’m not the only one [who] was subject to
this harassment.
“I have been on the ZIFA [referees] panel since 2019, I’m
30 years old. I expected to be treated with respect, not like a lady of the
night.
“I, however, request you to look into the matter and
possibly address the issue and in the process protect me and my fellow female
referees who are suffering silently.” – H-Metro/The Guardian
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