adminSikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
HWANGE Football Club have indefinitely suspended assistant coach Mebelo Njekwa who is also the Mighty Warriors second in charge over insubordination. The club claims Njekwa refused to return to the Colliery to take charge of Hwange in their Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match against Buffaloes after the club found itself coachless as head coach Nation Dube was with the Young Warriors in Cameroon while the Mighty Warriors were preparing for the African Games qualifier second leg match against Ghana.
Acting Hwange chairman, Perekai Mapanga refused to comment on the issue, referring them to the company’s corporate affairs manager Burzil Dube who could not be reached as he was said to be on leave.
Njekwa was not reachable yesterday but close associates confirmed that he received his letter of suspension yesterday morning just after 9AM as he was about to resume his duties with Hwange.
The letter of suspension, read to Chronicle Sport by a member of the Hwange Legends, an association of former Hwange players said Njekwa, who is barely two weeks old on his job, was suspended in terms of Part B, section Two of the Hwange Colliery Company Code of Conduct.
“You are hereby suspended from your work place until further notice. You will be required to reside at your given home address. The reasons for your suspension are; C/S 3.1 (a) refusing to obey an instruction, C/S 3.1 (b) failing to obey an instruction, C/S 3.2 (b) insubordination, insolence towards a supervisor,” read part of the letter to Njekwa.
Sources said Njekwa received a phone call from the club administrator Khumbulani Mbano after 6PM on the eve of the match and advised him to be at the Colliery Stadium by 3PM the following day, the very day that Njekwa and Rosemary Mugadza, the Mighty Warriors head coach, were supposed to lead the girls in the African Games qualifier.
“For starters, Njekwa could not have heeded Mbano’s instruction because he (Njekwa) was reporting to Zifa management and in any event even if he had decided to come, the earliest that he could have gotten here was at 5PM, just after the end of the match,” said the source, a former Chipangano player.
A member of the Hwange Supporters’ Club, also speaking on condition of anonymity because of fear of victimisation accused Mapanga of destroying Hwange FC because of arbitrary decisions that are to the detriment of the team.
“He first individually removed Brian Njobvu after just a single game into the season and now he has again decided to suspend Njekwa which to us is against a national cause because Njekwa was on national duty not on a shopping spree,” said the supporter.
Hwange are yet to win in five Premiership games so far and are sitting in the relegation bracket on the table.
Online Reporter