Chiefs striker off to Ghana

Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter 

BULAWAYO Chiefs forward Dela Arkoli yesterday left Zimbabwe for his home country of Ghana after the club managed to pay him his owed salary. 

While Arkoli has been paid, his teammates remain unpaid as Chiefs appear to be still seeking ways to pay players their dues. Amakhosi Amahle were jolted into action on the Arkoli situation whose work permit was expiring with the year-end. Arkoli, together with another Ghanaian Wilson Mensah were now living on food handouts from well-wishers as Chiefs had abandoned them. 

Speaking from the Joshua Mqabuko Airport the Ghanaian international said he was happy to be heading back home after months of struggle as Chiefs failed to pay its players.

“The club has managed to give me my salary but what remains now is my signing on fee which they have promised to send me,” said Arkoli. 

His countryman Mensah who has his permit expiring on January 7 is also expected to leave the country anytime this week. Mensah has highlighted that he will be heading to Botswana where he is hoping to find a new home. His frustration at Chiefs has seen him declare he will not be returning to the club in the event he comes back to Zimbabwe. 

The 2022 Chibuku Super Cup winners last paid their players in June. So dire is the situation at Amakhosi Amahle that Arkoli and Mensah had to survive on handouts from well-wishers as well as the Footballers Union of Zimbabwe.

A week ago, placards were left on the Chiefs shop situated at Bulawayo’s Tshaka Centre with demands that the club pays what it owes. The club had undertaken, in an agreement brokered by FUZ to settle what they owe to players using the Chibuku Super Cup as well as Premier Soccer League prize money. In terms of the agreement, players were meant to receive 70% of the US$75 000 Chibuku Super Cup prize money while 100 percent of what Chiefs got for finishing seventh in the PSL was also to be shared among the athletes. Follow on Twitter -@innocentskizoe.