Abstract
Zimbabwe experienced a high profile match fixing scam between 2007-2010, commonly known
as the Asiagate scandal. The Warriors - men’s senior national football team, reportedly fell
victim to Asian betting syndicates. Four journalists from the state-controlled media were
sanctioned by the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) for allegedly participating in the scam.
Burgeoning literature on ‘brown envelopes’ and freebies in journalistic practice in Africa at large
and Zimbabwe in particular, has under-theorised this phenomenon in Zimbabwe’s sports
journalism fraternity. Focusing on the Asia-gate scandal, the article utilises ‘brown envelope
journalism’ theoretical lens to examine the subject and its repercussions on sports journalism
practice, from the view point of sports journalists. In-depth interviews were conducted with
selected sports journalists both from the publicly owned and privately owned media in
Zimbabwe. The article avers that due to the deteriorating socio-economic environment, some
journalists were ‘seduced’ by ‘brown envelopes’ and ‘recruited’ into a ‘patronage’ corrupt
network by match-fixers. Consequently, ‘patronised’ journalists became pliant tools in hands of
match-fixers and failed to ‘bark’ at malpractices masterminded by their ‘benefactors’.