Hwange in trouble

Harare Bureau—
PREMIERSHIP club Hwange are on a collision course with the Footballers’ Union of Zimbabwe following revelations that the club is owing players salaries stretching for more than a year. It emerged last week during FUZ routine visit to top-flight clubs that Chipangano players have not been receiving their monthly salaries for one year and have been only getting some allowances. FUZ have asked the club executive to be furnished with a written response in seven days.

FUZ are conducting workshops with each Premiership club touching on a number of aspects such as fitness, conduct of players on social media, media relations, contractual issues and the challenges the players face.

For the past week, FUZ have been covering clubs in the southern region and this week they will be dealing with Harare clubs. Yesterday, FUZ president Desmond Maringwa said they were disturbed when they went to Hwange and found out the players haven’t received their salaries for the past year. The players are also yet to receive signing-on fees from the club.

“We are yet to meet with the club executive and we wrote to them highlighting all that they are failing to do to honour players’ contracts and we expect them to respond. “If they ignore we will take the matter with the PSL and Fifa because we believe non-payment of wages and salaries is one of the drivers of match-fixing.

“But if you look at the situation of Hwange, this has been going on for the past one year and these players are family men and honestly how are they supposed to survive?” said Maringwa.

The former Dynamos midfielder said during the briefing the players made it clear they were disgruntled but have no option but continue playing for the club. “They are playing yes, and sometimes winning and sometimes losing but it is a really a challenge for the players,” said Maringwa.

“Some clubs have a tendency to ignore letters but in this case we really need to take it up because they are a professional club and should operate within the confines of a professional club.”

Maringwa said they were not fighting clubs but the situation should be sustainable for both parties. “We are not targeting clubs in this tough economic environment but there is also need to observe players’ rights.

“We are not here to fight clubs but we are here to assist football but we also have to respect the rights of players who are the employees. “Players are patient enough and understand the economic situation in the country and they can easily agree terms with the clubs.

“But the problem is club officials are sometimes not honest and this leads to players resorting to boycotting training because they would have been taken for granted for a long time,” said Maringwa.

Hwange club chairman Joe Zulu, said they are expecting to have paid at least 23 percent of what they owe their players by next month. “We are doing the best we can as the mine is not performing well. We haven’t paid salaries for a long time. We are doing the best we can and we will pay. “We have talked to the guys and in fact something is happening in October and by then we expect to pay 23 percent of what we owe them,” said Zulu.

Fixtures
Chibuku Super Cup First Round

Friday: Harare City v Border Strikers (Rufaro).

Saturday: Ngezi Platinum v Hwange (Baobab), Caps United v Tsholotsho (National Sports Stadium), ZPC Kariba v Bulawayo City (Nyamhunga).

Sunday: Dynamos v How Mine (Rufaro), Triangle v Chicken Inn (Gibbo), Highlanders v Mutare City (Barbourfields).