Financial turmoil bedevils yesteryear giants, Saints

FUNDS paid by a tenant operating a bar and a braai spot at Zimbabwe Saints Clubhouse are not benefiting the club at a time the yesteryear giants are in dire need of revenue to sustain their operations, Saturday Chronicle Sport has been briefed.

Zimbabwe Saints was recently expelled from the Zifa Southern region for failing to fulfil a lot number of matches and paying annual affiliation fees to the association. The club was chucked out of the league together with Mountain Climbers and Emakhandeni Pirates.

It has, however, emerged that the US$1 500 per month rent paid by a tenant at the Zimbabwe Saints Clubhouse are being pocketed by an individual instead of going into the club coffers.

An emergency general meeting called by the club executive to iron out the issue, among other matters bedevilling the club, was aborted last month. Board of trustees chairman Vincent Pamire at the time told this publication that he had no knowledge of the said meeting.

Division One clubs require about US$400 to host a home game, broken down into expenses such as hiring a stadium, paying referees and police details, transport for the players and coaches to the match venue and refreshments.

A Zimbabwe Saints insider said the money paid by the clubhouse tenant is enough to cater for three home games but instead was being pocketed by an individual instead of the club.

“We have never seen a cent of the money paid by our tenant at the clubhouse. Every time we call for a meeting between the executive and board of trustees to find out where exactly the rentals go, the meetings are cancelled for no reason. How can the club fail to host a match here in Bulawayo when the clubhouse is generating US$1 500 every month?’ asked the insider.

Asked to clarify the issue, Pamire said the rentals will not change the financial fortunes of the team thus accusations of financial misdemeanours at the club were a side show to the real problems facing the yesteryear giants.

“The issue of rentals from the clubhouse is neither here nor there. I have been helping this club for years and now people are bothered by money paid by the tenant at the clubhouse. I have nothing to hide. We are in this situation (financial problems) because the people who used to fund the club no longer see the value in continuing supporting us anymore. Every week we are begging for money to fulfil fixtures, it’s not ideal situation but some of us with the club at heart will continue supporting Zimbabwe Saints,” said Pamire.

He declined to say whether or not he is the one collecting rentals from the clubhouse tenant.

Last year, an Australian benefactor Adrian Mtungwazi pulled out of a sponsorship deal worth US$30 000 after allegations that some of the money had been misappropriated. The club has been under heavy financial heat in the absence of a dedicated sponsor with individuals who have stood by the club also feeling the heat and fatigue of having to dig from their pockets at the expense of their families.

Ishmael Kaguru, the Zimbabwe Saints acting executive chairman who has over the past 30 years been among those that have stood solidly behind the historic football project that boasts some big names in its player list like William Sibanda, Gibson Homela, Agent Sawu, Ephraim Chawanda, Muzondiwa Mugadza, Moses Moyo and the late Vice President of Zimbabwe Joseph Msika, described being expelled from the league as an unfortunate day in the history of the institution.

He said the lack of support from the business sector had affected the club’s day-to-day survival.

“It’s very unfortunate that we have now been expelled from the league, but irrespective of that, the situation is beyond our control considering where we stand right now as a nation economically,” said Kaguru.

The club which used to be the biggest in Bulawayo in the 1960s and 1970s, has struggled to stand on its own in the last 25 years and has been a “yo-yo” team shuttling between non-existence, Division Two, juniors, Premiership and Division One.