Shadreck Mlauzi, the coach of the Mighty Warriors, Zimbabwe women’s football team, has been arrested and remanded in custody over allegations of indecent assault against a female staff member during the Cosafa Women’s Championship in South Africa. Mlauzi, who previously led Zimbabwe to the 2016 Olympics, was recently reappointed as the team’s coach. The complaint seen by the Guardian read in part:
It is understood a complaint was made with police in Zimbabwe by a female staff member on her return there. She has made a number of allegations, including that Mlauzi invited her to his hotel room on Saturday 26 September, forcibly grabbed her shoulders and “tried to kiss her without her consent. The accused further demanded to have his body massaged via a WhatsApp call and asked for sexual intimacy.
The female staff member claims that Mlauzi asked her to come to his room for a massage and later grabbed her buttocks. She reported the incidents to the Cosafa safeguarding officer. Mlauzi appeared in court on Tuesday and has been remanded in custody until his bail hearing. The Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) is conducting an investigation into the allegations, and the staff member has expressed concerns about how ZIFA has handled the situation, as Mlauzi stayed in the same hotel as her during their time in South Africa.
Reports in Zimbabwe last week had named Mlauzi as the coach under investigation and he was not on the touchline for Zimbabwe’s semi-final defeat by Zambia, which he watched from the stands. He returned to the dugout for the third-place playoff defeat by Mozambique on Sunday.