Scandal ROCKS Zambia football as referees’ chief quits over ‘high level of corruption in refereeing’

Zambian football has been thrown into turmoil after the chairperson of the Football Association of Zambia’s Referees Committee, Gladys Lengwe Mweemba, resigned while alleging widespread corruption within the refereeing system.

Her resignation letter, addressed to the FAZ General Secretary in Lusaka paints a troubling picture of how refereeing in the country is being run. Mweemba who has spent more than twenty-five years in refereeing said she could no longer remain in her role after witnessing what she described as an alarming level of corruption.

According to her, the referees committee has been reduced to a powerless body while key decisions are controlled by the Referees Manager. She claimed that despite raising concerns about the repeated appointment of referees she considered corrupt her directives were ignored.

Mweemba noted that she was raised in a refereeing culture built on integrity and professionalism and said the current situation deeply troubled her.

She also referenced the influence of the late refereeing figure Katongo Kabungo under whom she served and learned the values of fairness in the game.

Her departure is expected to intensify scrutiny on FAZ and raise questions about accountability in Zambian football.