DeMbare, players standoff persists

Tadious Manyepo

Zimpapers Sports Hub

THINGS are increasingly heading south at Dynamos with their players yesterday refusing to train for the second day running.

They are protesting over unpaid winning bonuses and sign-on fees.

The industrial action, which has cast a lot of uncertainty over the Glamour Boys’ Chibuku Super Cup semi-final tie against Manica Diamonds at Rufaro on Sunday, started on Wednesday.

Despite efforts from the team’s executive to persuade them to call off the strike, the players are having none of it and yesterday they took it a notch higher when they refused to entertain chairman Moses Maunganidze at their training ground.

With the season approaching its tip end, the restive players said they won’t listen to the team’s pledge to pay them the winning bonuses once-off at the end of the race as some of them would have had their contracts with DeMbare expired.

Dynamos are suspecting a third force behind the disturbances. But Maunganidze last night said management is hoping to settle the outstanding bonuses today and the players would be able to resume preparations for the showdown against Manica Diamonds.

“Unfortunately, the players have decided to down their tools at a time we thought all was well given we agreed to pay their winning bonuses at once for the second half of the season.

“But there is nothing much that we can do because they are not training and all we can do is pay them the outstanding bonuses,” said Maunganidze.

“We have secured the funds, and we are in the middle of processing them.

“I hope that by tomorrow (today) we would be able to pay all that we owe them.

“We agreed to pay the bonuses all at once for the second half of the season like what we did last year.

“Even those players whose contracts were running out at the end of last year, we paid them, so I am not seeing any reason why those with contracts running out at the end of this term are panicking.

“But these things happen, and we have tried our best to also address things from our end and we are saying the payment will be done tomorrow (today).”

Dynamos have already lost two crucial days to prepare for the tie against Manica Diamonds on Sunday and they risk failing to get a favourable result that would set them on the right path to defending the country’s biggest knock-out tournament.

The Glamour Boys won the trophy last year after beating Ngezi Platinum 2-0 in the final and got a ticket to represent the country in the CAF Confederation Cup where they have since crashed out.