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Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter
THE Dynamos executive have threatened to root out the bad apples from the club whom they claim are behind the unrest which has seen a number of senior players boycotting training.
The Glamour Boys senior players, who are owed money from last season, downed tools last week and continued with their industrial action yesterday after failing to reach common ground with the executive. The players were further incensed after they failed to get full salaries for January after part of their earnings went to pay their taxes.
They reported for training, but refused to join coach Lloyd Mutasa and his rookie players as they went through their paces for this week. A youthful DeMbare laced with a few senior players beat bitter rivals CAPS United courtesy of a goal by Kudzi “KD’’ Dhemere.
Only Cameroonian forward Christian Epoupa Ntouba, among the senior players who snubbed training as well as the weekend’s match, resumed training yesterday.
Interestingly, some of the players, who had a change of the heart at the last-minute such as goalkeepers Tonderayi Mateyaunga and Blessing Mwandimutsira, Marshall Machazane, Cleopas Kapupurika, Blessing Moyo and Godfrey Mukambi and featured against CAPS United, yesterday joined their counterparts in their industrial action.
Only the duo of James Marufu and Tawanda Macheke, among the regulars who played in the weekend match, trained yesterday.
Club captain Ocean Mushure, vice captain Obey Mwerahari and new players such as Raphael Manuvire and the rest of the senior players have not been involved in drills since last week.
But the DeMbare executive now appear to be losing patience with their players. Yesterday, club chairman Kenny Mubaiwa said they were considering taking action against the ring leaders of the strike.
“If you notice the team which played on Sunday, they were very eager to play, but some of these seniors are influencing the rest of the team,’’ said Mubaiwa.
“We have told them that the money will come, and a small amount is what is remaining. We have covered quite a substantial amount in terms of outstanding salaries and signing-on fees.
“We paid something on Friday from what we got from the sponsors, the difference we will top up. It is off-season and difficult to raise money unlike when the season is underway. We will take action. Obviously, there are culprits. Honestly, we don’t understand where this behaviour is coming from.’’
Mubaiwa said what is more worrying is that they have tried to have dialogue with the senior players, but this has not borne any fruit.
“If we eventually give them money say on Friday, how are they going to play on Sunday when they have not been training the entire week?
“We have said you must train, while we look for the money and it is not wise to refuse to train,” he said.
According to the DeMbare boss, one of the contentious issues with the senior players is related to the tax deductions. Apparently the players appear unhappy that a small of chunk of their salaries from NetOne was wiped out by tax.
“It is a statutory requirement and there is nothing we can about it. We addressed the issue with the players. We should resolve this strike issue immediately because this is not good for the club and everyone involved.
“We may let go some of the players, the few bad apples. Remember the season hasn’t started and should we start like this, it will give us problems.
“We cannot move forward like this. One cannot start a journey in disharmony as this will result in you not finishing the journey well or together” said Mubaiwa.
Online Reporter