ZIFA Referees Committee chairman Norman Matemera has insisted that his leadership will not tolerate any involvement of match officials in corrupt activities aimed at manipulating games in the four Division One leagues.
The quest for promotion to the Premier Soccer League has heightened across all four regions.
Such is the intensity that allegations surfaced this week in the best run of the leagues -- the Northern Region -- that, referees had been sucked into the underhand manoeuvres to sway games into the favour of some of the title-chasers.
This came as referee Never Dombo was assaulted by some Shamva Mine supporters for alleged biased officiating when their team hosted log leaders MWOS last Saturday.
Dombo is also reported to have controversially awarded 12 minutes of his optional time, and MWOS found their goal during the early stages of that additional time.
Referees boss Matemera, however, maintains that his office is yet to receive any complaints on the conduct of the referees.
The former CAF and FIFA panel official instead, warned clubs and fans against taking matters into their own hands and assaulting referees.
He also called on the leagues to ensure there is adequate security at match venues while challenging aggrieved clubs to forward reports of corrupt officials.
Matemera said he was not surprised by some of the claims and accusations levelled against referees, which he reckoned were seasonal.
"In the majority of cases during the run-in to the championship and relegation dog fight, such allegations arise from time to time," Matemera said.
"However, we have not received reports of match manipulation.
"There have been three cases of violence against match officials, and these have been dealt with by the Northern Region.
"In the Eastern Region, two cases of violence against referees were recorded and were similarly dealt with by the Eastern Region".
Matemera added that although they would not tolerate any corruption on the part of their referees, the matters that have been brought to their attention lately were those about accusations of incompetence levelled against the match officials.
"In the majority of these cases, the alleged issues are of incompetence and mistakes rather than match manipulation.
"Our stance is and has always been zero tolerance to match-fixing.
"We are committed to taking stern action against those found wanting. We, therefore, appeal to those with evidence of match manipulation to come forward so that we can investigate and take action against such errant referees.
"We also appeal to the responsible authorities of various leagues to ensure the safety of our referees as cases of violence have been on the increase towards the end of the season," said Matemera.
The referee's boss spoke on the eve of yet another crucial round of fixtures in the NRSL today and tomorrow.
Much of the attention, however, will be on matches involving the NRSL top four -- MWOS, Harare City, Scottland, and Black Rhinos.
MWOS, who have turned Ngoni into a fortress will receive unpredictable Ngezi U19 in a match that will be preceded by an awards ceremony for the LM Auctioneers Player and Goalkeeper of the Month respectively.
The Allied Insurance Coach of the Month gong will also be presented before that game.
MWOS have had a treble of awards for the combined period of July-August.
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Gaffer Lloyd Mutasa leads the way after winning the coaches accolade, his goalminder Kelvin Shangiwa bagged the Goalkeepers' accolade for an impressive show during which he kept seven clean sheets and midfielder Arthur Banda secured the Player of the Month after inspiring the Norton outfit from the middle of the park.
A top-of-the-table package will be served at The Heart Stadium's B Arena where Rhinos and Harare City square off with pressure weighing heavily on the soldiers to avoid any drop of points.
Flamboyant Scottland have found reason to believe after climbing up the ladder to within a point of MWOS (54 points), at least until a determination is made on the latter side's abandoned game against Shamva Mine.
While all three games are as cagey as they are potentially explosive, the spotlight will also fall on the men and women that Matemera and his office will dispatch to handle the matches.
