Online Reporter
Innocent Kurira-Zimpapers Sports Hub
HIGHLANDERS’ salary crisis played out in stark fashion yesterday morning, with players reporting for training but refusing to take part, leaving coach Benjani Mwaruwari a lone and distraught figure at White City’s B Arena.
Bosso released a statement to assure the players that they were not sitting on their laurels over the issue.
“We have engaged our players and corporate partners with a view of resolving the current impasse,” the club said.
“As an employer, the club is ever seized with the welfare of its employees as an absolute priority.”
What should have been a routine build-up session ahead of Sunday’s Castle Lager Premier Soccer League clash with Triangle has instead turned into a silent standoff, underlining the deepening unrest within the Bosso camp.
Benjani paced the pitch almost alone, occasionally glancing towards his players, who had gathered but opted against training.
It was a telling image of a coach trying to hold things together under increasingly difficult conditions.
From a distance, team manager Zenzo Moyo appeared equally troubled, locked in a series of phone calls as he seemingly searched for answers.
Only about 11 players briefly took to the pitch, engaging in light drills which they made clear were purely for personal fitness rather than part of any structured session.
The rest remained on the sidelines, watching as events unfolded without direction.
The playing squad, technical team and office staff have gone for two months without receiving salaries, triggering renewed unrest at a critical stage of the season.
The situation has become a recurring theme, with players having previously taken industrial action over the same issue earlier in the campaign, pointing to unresolved financial challenges within the club.
One senior player said:
“We have been patient for a long time, but it is now affecting everything, preparations, morale and even focus.
“It’s not easy coming to training when basic commitments are not being met.”
Another player said:
“We did not want to completely stay away because we respect the badge but at the same time we cannot pretend everything is normal.
“That’s why we came but did not train.”
Benjani continues to shoulder the burden of keeping the team focused under difficult circumstances, even as off-field issues threaten to derail preparations.
Fixtures
Saturday: FC Hunters v Ngezi Platinum (Heart), MWOS v Chicken Inn (Ngoni), FC Platinum v Scottland (Mandava), TelOne v Hardrock (Ascot), Simba Bhora v ZPC Kariba (Wadzanai), Bulawayo Chiefs v Herentals (Barbourfields), Manica Diamonds v Agama (Sakubva)
Sunday: Highlanders v Traingle (Barbourfields), Dynamos v CAPS United (Rufaro)
Bongani Ndlovu
Bunjiwe Mkwananzi