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HIGHLANDERS’ long standing financial backer, Makokoba MP Rtrd Col Tshinga Dube says he is not comfortable with supporting the club financially as that was tantamount to “throwing money into a bottomless pit”.
In an interview on Friday, Dube said no one wanted to be associated with an unsuccessful institution, therefore he could not continue pouring his funds into the club with the prevailing situation at the former champions.
“I cannot be comfortable supporting Highlanders at the moment, that is like throwing money into a bottomless pit. Everyone wants to be associated with success and that is not happening at Highlanders,’’ said Dube.
His remarks come in the wake of a damning letter he wrote to the media last week castigating the Highlanders leadership made up of the executive and the board. He called upon the executive led by Peter Dube and the board led by Mgcini Nkolomi “to give others a chance to run Highlanders”.
Dube said it was up to the club’s supporters as well as members to decide the future of the club adding “I have played my part.”
Dube indicated that he will go with what the people thought was the right way to take Highlanders forward.
Ndumiso Gumede, the Highlanders chief executive officer said during a Press conference on Thursday that they would not respond to Dube’s earlier remarks as they (Bosso) prided themselves in the club’s governance structures.
Club treasurer Donald Ndebele, however, seemed to sing a different tune at the end of the same media briefing as he seemed to indicate that the Bosso leadership will seek audience with the man who has poured money into the club since the 1980s.
Nonetheless, in an interview on Friday, Dube reiterated that he stood by the contents of that communication as the Highlanders leadership has destroyed the pride of the Bulawayo people.
“I have played my part, I don’t want to engage in a media war with the Highlanders leadership, some of them are my personal friends. I believe they have killed our pride,’’ said Dube.
The 74-year-old Member of the House of Assembly for Makokoba who disclosed that he has supported Highlanders for 64 years is convinced that Amahlolanyama are not dead as yet and can be resuscitated if the current problems bedevilling the club are fixed. He again called upon Highlanders, who are hunting for a permanent coach to appoint a mentor with a credible track record. Dube voiced his concern at the annual general meeting at the beginning of the year that he was not happy with the hiring of Bongani Mafu as the club coach. He was proven right when Mafu was fired with nine games to go as results continued to elude him. Going into this weekend’s fixtures, Highlanders were on 10th spot on the 16 team log, something that has caused panic at the club as the team faces relegation should they fail to record good results in the six matches left in the season.
It is understood that some members are now circulating an online petition to force the leadership to step down. Leroy Maplanka who was behind the last call for the executive to step down is understood to be behind the latest one.
Dube has over the years come to the rescue of Highlanders, the latest being his partnership with the club in the purchase of a luxury coach from South Africa which was handed over to Bosso in June.
Online Reporter