© Reuters 2002

JOHANNESBURG, March 5 (Reuters) - A digest of African soccer stories over the last days:

TANZANIA
Dar-es-Salaam's Simba won a sixth East and Central African Club Championship title on Sunday with a 1-0 win over Prince Louis of Burundi in the final of the 12-nation event, played on the island of Zanzibar. Veteran international Nteze John scored the winner after five minutes. Home side Mlandege finished third after a penalty shootout decided the third place play-off against SC Villa of Uganda, after the match had ended in a 1-1 draw. Villa had goalkeeper Hannington Kalyesubula suspended for the match after CECAFA, the regional organising body, said he had impolitely shaken hands with the dignitaries before the start of the semifinals. Kalyesubulua was suspended for one game for holding his gloves in the same hand that he offered the Zanzibar Chief Justice Hamid Mohamed, who was the guest of honour at the match, Ugandan newspapers reported on Monday.

SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa's under-19 women's team have been thrown out of the World Cup qualifiers after their government refused to allow their opponents from the Central African Republic to enter the country for the second leg of their qualifying tie. The Central African Republic squad were turned away at Johannesburg airport by customs officials because they had no visas. Confederation of African Football (CAF) rules state that any team whose government refuses entry visas to the visiting team or match officials will automatically be disqualified. South Africa have appealed the decision but CAF, in the meantime, have already announced dates for the final qualifying round match between Nigeria and the Central African Republic. It will be played over two legs at the end of this month and in mid April. The winner of the tie will represent Africa at the inaugural women's under-19 World Cup in Canada in August.

ZAMBIA
Kabwe Warriors became the second club this year to receive a three-year ban from African club competition, the Confederation of African Football said at the weekend. Warriors' withdrawal from this year's CAF Cup has cost them a three-year ban and a fine of $1,500. The club withdrew from their tie next week against Botswana Defence Force XI because of financial reasons. Last month CAF handed out a similar punishment to the Togo club Sara de Bafailo who did not turn up for an African Cup Winners' Cup preliminary round tie at Atletico Malabo of Equatorial Guinea.

BOTSWANA
Botswana's national team set a new milestone on Saturday with a record 6-2 win over Swaziland in a friendly international in Gaborone. It was the biggest ever margin of victory for the sparsely-populated southern African country since they entered international football some 25 years ago. Oliver Pikati scored a second-half hat-trick for Botswana, who were using the match to prepare for their meeting with World Cup finalists South Africa in the Cosafa Castle Cup. The match will be played in Gaborone on March 30.