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Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
WITH hunger on the prowl, a Bulawayo Chiefs footballer’s wife on Monday saw it proper to engage authorities in a rather non-formal way after she reportedly invaded the money spinning sports apparel shop and demanded replicas so she could sell as a way to make ends meet.
Actions by the unnamed partner of one of the players then forced the club to close the shop while trying to find ways of dealing with the unpleasant situation.
Though Bulawayo Chiefs communications officer Thulani “Javas” Sibanda could not be reached for a comment after frantic efforts which included calls to his mobile phone which were not answered together with text messages which he ignored, the club’s shop, situated at Tshaka Centre was for the greater part of yesterday closed and with no one inside. Staffers were only seen at the shop way after 3pm but the doors remained shut.
Amakhosi Amahle players have not received their salaries in the last four months. The once flamboyant and free spending club, with 77 500 followers on Twitter where they are the only verified Zimbabwean football institution seemingly has its coffers dry. So dire is the situation at the club that players have gone for games without receiving a penny for their efforts. To their credit, Chiefs players have soldiered on with 12 wins from 32 matches, with Amakhosi Amahle ninth on the log with 45 points. In their last five league matches, Chiefs have won three and lost two, those defeats coming at the hands of Bulawayo City and Highlanders.
Players including Kelvin Madzongwe and the Moyo twins, Kevin and Elvis have since stopped attending training sessions.
The trio is said to be leading a revolt over unpaid salaries and absconded from last week’s training programme for the second week in a row.
Absence of the three experienced players is likely to be a huge blow on the team’s preparations for the Chibuku Super Cup final clash with Herentals at Barbourfields Stadium on November 19. The financial crisis faced by the senior men’s teams is also expected to hit the women’s side, who have just qualified for the national Women’s Super League.
In the build up to the game against Highlanders, Chiefs only trained once with the Moyo twins and Madzongwe not attending that fine tuning session. Madzongwe and Elvis were not part of the match day squad against Highlanders. Kevin and skipper Malvin Mkolo did not play against Bosso since they were suspended.
Just to show how dire the situation at Amakhosi Amahle is, Chiefs players recently wrote to the Footballers Union of Zimbabwe (Fuz) asking the Desmond Maringwa-headed body to help get the Premier Soccer League to withhold prize money for the Chibuku Super Cup and for the league position so that they can share it among themselves.
Some of the Chiefs players are said to be prepared to walk away from Amakhosi Amahle due to the club’s failure to honour its obligations. In terms of football statutes, the players already have just cause for ditching the club since they have not been paid for four months. — @innocentskizoe
Online Reporter