Internationally acclaimed fitness expert Thomson Matenda is back to clear his name from the Asiagate mess as the much-delayed hearings by the Justice Ebrahim-led Independent Ethics Committee finally kick off in earnest this week.

The long-running saga, believed to have contributed to the Warriors’ losing start in the South Africa 2013 African Cup of Nations qualifiers after Zifa suspended the core of the senior national team, will draw to a close following a month of full-scale official inquiries by the committee led by the retired Supreme Court judge.

Matenda, a fitness guru who spent the last two years attached to top Mozambican football team Costa do Sol, is alleged to have given orders from the bench during one of the national team’s fixed games that took place in several countries in the Middle and Far East.

According to the report compiled by the Ndumiso Gumede-led committee investigating the shady trips, the former Dynamos trainer dished out instructions for the team to concede goals at certain intervals during one of the matches against Syria in late 2009.

Gumede’s panel, which also included fellow Zifa board members Elliot Kasu and Benedict Moyo, heard that Matenda was part of the team that left Harare under a cloud of secrecy in December 2009 and stopped first in Bangkok where each player was paid between US$1 000 and US$5 000 to lose 0-3 to football part-timers Thailand.

The national team proceeded to Malaysia during the same trip to produce another pre-determined 0-3 outcome against the host national side before it got worse in the third encounter in Syria where the shadowy Zimbabwean side received a 0-6 drubbing.

Players who gave evidence during the investigations claimed that former Zifa programmes manager Jonathan Musavengana and Matenda were responsible for the touchline instructions.

Besides Musavengana and Matenda, other officials on the bench included goalkeepers’ coach Emmanuel Nyahuma and medics Mordecai Sachikonye and Lloyd Manungwa.

Testifying to the Gumede committee, Mamelodi Sundowns striker Nyasha Mushekwi said:

“We . . . played Syria and (before) we were addressed at the hotel to lose 3-0. During the game they kept on increasing our losing margin, i.e giving instructions to concede until we were down by 6-0. Musavengana was giving those instructions being assisted by Matenda.”

Matenda, a veteran of acrobatic displays who now operates a fully-equipped gymnasium in the capital, exonerated himself, saying there was not a single grain of truth in the allegations.

“As a fitness trainer I am not responsible for team selection and therefore have no instructions to give to a team on the field,’’ argued Matenda.

“My role as a fitness trainer mostly ends at training, dealing strictly with the physical condition of players. On the bench my job is to take substitutes for warm-up as and when requested by the coach.’’

Matenda, who is fondly referred to in the local football circles as “MaRubber”, said he was surprised to have been implicated in the match-fixing scandal when he had only answered a call to national duty.

“Touchline instructions are the responsibility of the coach who has selected the team,’’ he maintained. “I was busy warming up players and had no business assisting

Musavengana with instructions to players as alleged.’’

A top-notch gymnast and renowned fitness instructor, Matenda was on the technical staff of the crack Dynamos team that reached the last four of the 2008 African Champions League, working under David “Yogi” Mandigora.

Matenda told The Sunday Mail that after missing the last inquiry headed by Gumede due to absence, he would be available to assist the Ebrahim commission.

A senior Zifa official said the independent ethics committee would begin its findings on Thursday this week, bringing to finality an issue that has played havoc with the local game and caused the suspension from national duty of up to 100 players, among them key foreign-based professionals.

A weakened Warriors outfit lost 1-2 to the Swallows in the first leg of the opening qualifier away in Burundi last month.

“The Ebrahim committee will begin its first hearing on March 15 and should have finished recording statements from all those implicated by April 15, paving the way for their recommended course of action,’’ said the official, requesting anonymity.

He revealed several of the implicated players would be appearing before the Zifa-appointed team of legal practitioners, including international players based outside the country.

“Edward Sadomba will be flying in for the hearing on the first day and several more are appearing this week and the next. In the case of foreign-based players Fifa will facilitate their release from their respective clubs to enable them to provide this crucial evidence in the global fight against football corruption.’’

The official explained that the ethics committee had in the meantime been seized with legal semantics arising from loopholes in the Gumede report which lacked recorded statements or sworn affidavits by those interviewed.

“It is, however, water under the bridge now as our star witnesses — the players — are willing to come forward and present irrefutable evidence in order to free their consciences.’’

More than 15 matches played by the Warriors in Asia are understood to be under scrutiny with two other fixtures involving Monomotapa who masqueraded as the senior national team and featured in friendly internationals against Malaysia in 2009.

The fixed games, orchestrated by jailed Singaporean match agent Raj Perumal, took place between 2007 and 2009 when Zimbabwe’s participation was stopped abruptly after the Sport and Recreation Commission finally put its foot down.

Deposed Zifa chief executive officer Henrietta Rushwaya, accused of being the local mastermind of the operation, has already appeared in court to answer charges related to the match-fixing allegations.