Zimbabwe Republic Police’s Assistant Inspector, Norman Matemera, and Sergeant Major, Luckson Mhara, capped a stellar 2018 football season with flying colours as they were voted Castle Lager Premier Soccer League Referee (CLPSL) and Assistant Referee of the year 2018, respectively. Matemera, who is the only Zimbabwean referee currently on CAF Elite B panel, was voted the 2018 CLPSL Referee of the year for the first time in his career.
Matemera recently shot to fame for turning down a $USD 10 000 bribe to fix a Confederation of African Football (CAF) Confederations Cup game between Deportivo Niefang of Equatorial Guinea and Williamsville AC of Ivory Coast on April 18, 2018 in Equatorial Guinea.
The referee lodged a report to Africa’s football governing body, Confederation of African Football (CAF) also accused the Match Commissioner of coercing him to take the bribe.
Deportivo Niafeng, who won the match in question 2-1, crashed out of the competition on a 3-2 aggregate loss having initially lost 2-0 to the Ivorians in their first leg.
Matemera’s rare ethics earned him headlines across the continent for the abject shenanigans for which he was awarded a whopping US$5000 for the show in his home country by former Zimbabwe Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister, Cde Obert Mpofu, Permanent Secretary of Home Affairs, Mr Melusi Matshiya and Commissioner General of Police, Godwin Matanga.
Matemera had been promoted to the CAF Elite B panel a year before, in 2017, at a course held in Cameroon.
He is the only centre man among three Zimbabwean referees on the CAF Elite B panel, the level which allows him to handle any other CAF matches except Africa Cup of Nations matches which need members of the CAF Elite A panel. The other two Zimbabwean referees on the same level with Matemera are Assistant Referee, Thomas Kusosa, and the recently promoted lady centre referee, Mercy Mayimbo.
He was promoted together with other top referees such as Tapfumaneyi Mutengwa, Ruzive Ruzive, Osward Mukucha, Bongani Gadzikwa and Abraham Manda.
“I want to thank God for being by my side. You see, refereeing does not need shortcuts, one needs to go through all stages of development, that is from social soccer, [through] division one to four”, said Matemera.
“The more years you spend learning in the trenches of division football, the tougher you become” he added.
“The experiences you gain doing division three games help you even on the international stage. At every stage that you officiate, there is certain experience you acquire in terms of match management, reading of the game, physical fitness, mental strength, running technique and use of common sense,” he said.
Matemera missed one of a lifetime opportunities to officiate at the 2018 Africa Nations Championships (CHAN) due to injury.
He, however, later officiated numerous CAF games including CAF Club Championship matches between Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa and Leonas Vegetarianos of Equatorial Guinea, GorMahia of Kenya and Rayon-Sport of Rwanda, Bantu FC (Lesotho) and As Vita (DRC) to mention but a few.
Meanwhile, his counterpart, Sergeant Major Mhara was also crowned CLPSL Assistant referee for 2018, the second time having won the same award in 2017.
The 38-year-old proved to be one of the best assistant referees that the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League and Zimbabwe Republic Police have produced so far.
He ranks alongside Brighton Mudzamiri, who is also among the most successful referees from the police and the country, having officiated at the Korea-Japan FIFA World Cup in 2002.
CAF is increasingly recognising the work of the duo of Matemera and Mhara as the African football mother body regularly assigns them to several international matches.
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ZRP Referee Luckson Mhara