Highlanders speak out, or continue to suffer in silence

Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter

ON February 27, 2021, Chronicle Sport published a story titled ‘Bosso @95 …it’s here to stay’ as part of celebrating Highlanders FC’s 95 years of existence.

The story derived from an interview with Highlanders president Ndumiso Gumede, who shared his thoughts about what has kept the grand institution standing up to this day, the major challenges the club has faced in its decades of existence, and how it has managed to navigate through.

On how Highlanders has managed to navigate through turbulent waters, Gumede said the club has survived mainly because it has carefully elected persons of integrity that are committed to furthering the aims and objectives of the founding fathers.

He said it didn’t mean there have never been bad apples within with nefarious intentions of destroying the club.

As Bosso march closer to a century of existence, Gumede boldly declared that “Highlanders is here to stay!”

But will Highlanders live to a century?

Bosso have no major sponsor to take pay players’ salaries, with no football being played and to compound their financial woes, Bosso have no other form of revenue generator, as Chibuku Super Cup matches are played in empty stadia due to Covid-19.

Covid-19 is ravishing the world, with cases rising everyday at an alarming rate, which forced the Government to issue a blanket ban on sporting activities, including football.

The sports industry has certainly caught a cold and is finding it difficult to navigate the challenges brought about by the new normal.

Football, the biggest employer in Zimbabwe’s sports industry, hasn’t been spared either, with Highlanders, a community team, being hardest hit as it mostly relies on the generosity of fans and the business community.

So sad is the Highlanders’ situation that the club is failing to honour its obligations such that the players staged a sit-in at the club offices on Wednesday, forcing a meeting with chairman Johnfat Sibanda, who was ushered into office in March.

Obviously, the chairman has his executive team, and in this case, Sibanda’s team comprises deputy chair Modern Ngwenya, secretary Morgan Dube, treasurer Donald Ndebele and committee member Mgcini Mafu, but the buck stops with Sibanda. Every good or bad that Highlanders draw itself into, it is the chairman that goes under scrutiny.

In his four months in charge, I doubt if Sibanda is enjoying the start of his three-year term, which appears to have suffered a false start.

He has had to deal with player mutiny twice, something he doesn’t need.

Bosso players first went on strike at the beginning of June, boycotting training sessions for three days and threatening not to fulfill their Chibuku Super Cup match against Bulawayo City, accusing the club executive committee of reneging on its promise to review their salaries upwards.

The players were demanding US$100 each as salary top-ups and even rejected a well-wisher’s offer of half of their demands.

And this week, Sibanda was forced to address players, who were disappointed that the club hadn’t communicated anything to them since their June meeting where the chairman reportedly promised to meet them.

Bosso’s problems are financial, something that the club hasn’t openly accepted.

Under Sibanda’s leadership, Highlanders are bottling up their challenges and romanticising them instead of letting their members, fans and sympathisers know so that they could get assistance.

A fact that Sibanda and his team know is that Highlanders’ strength in the absence of main sponsors has always been the people that bail them out.

The Bosso boss must be upfront and let members know that their situation is dire. It’s no use waiting for the mid-year meeting or annual general meeting to brief members scattered all over the world.

It is baffling that Bosso are choosing to be diplomatic instead of being upfront about the challenges the club is facing.

There’re times when diplomacy is not required and a cry out for help is the best way forward.

Highlanders say the problems emanating from their failure to pay player salaries and outstanding signing-on fees are not peculiar to Bosso as other sporting institutions also find themselves in a similar dilemma.

But Highlanders are not like any other sporting institution.

Highlanders are Highlanders and they have survived worse before.

Highlanders survived the economic crisis of 2007-2008.

They’re not any different from their Harare rivals, Dynamos. Instead of making excuses, the Harare giants went out of their way to find a sponsor, a sponsor that has vowed to help them stay afloat. What is stopping Bosso from doing the same?

There is an IsiNdebele adage which says: “umntwana ongakhaliyo ufela embelekweni”, loosely translated meaning a person that doesn’t speak out suffers in silence. Highlanders must speak out and an SOS is long overdue. — @ZililoR