adminSports Correspondent
HIGHLANDERS chief executive officer Ndumiso Gumede had to take over the driver’s seat of the minibus transporting the team to Harare after the hired driver was arrested for drunken driving in Gweru while the club was on its way for a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League fixture against Dynamos.
Bosso lost the tie 1-0 last Sunday.
Impeccable sources said Highlanders hired a Sprinter minibus from a local transport company and the driver started drinking alcohol soon after they left Bulawayo on Saturday morning.
The sources said the driver was intoxicated by the time they reached Gweru and when the team got at a road block in the Midlands capital he had a tussle with traffic police, who had realised that he had been drinking.
“After a few exchanges the police realised the driver was drunk and they decided to search the vehicle and they recovered a bottle of Viceroy Brandy under his seat and although he tussled with the police, they overpowered him and arrested him,” said the source, who revealed Gumede then took over the bus from Gweru up to Harare.
Contacted for comment the veteran administrator said he took over the role of the driver as he had a deadline to be in Harare by a certain time and “come hell or high water” he had to reach the capital in time.
“I had to be in Harare at a certain time and nothing could stand in my way as I had to meet the deadline,” said Gumede, without revealing the finer details of the incident.
Efforts to get a comment from the police Midlands Province public relations office were fruitless.
However, Gumede said the transport company sent a replacement driver who took over from him when they were returning to Bulawayo.
The Sprinter was carrying both the players and the technical team.
Online Reporter