adminEddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
OFF-THE-FIELD issues are likely to dominate the arena if the meeting called by a group of former Dynamos players and supporters presumably to iron out sticking issues at the Harare giants take place today. DeMbare are set to host Hwange tomorrow at Rufaro against a backdrop of discord.
Former player Ernest Kamba, with the backing of some DeMbare legends, has called for the meeting at Stodart Hall in Mbare from 10am today.Kamba argues the club is facing a leadership crisis with the effects now beginning to be felt on the field of play.
“Everyone who has an interest in Dynamos is invited. We have also invited those in the leadership of the club and it’s entirely up to them to come or not. We would want to have this great club operating at its optimum,” said Kamba.
A similar meeting was supposed to take place in May but it suffered still birth. Kamba said the purpose of their indaba was not to remove the club leadership.
“The agenda is basically to encourage the culture of transparency within Dynamos and improve relations with the supporters. It’s not about targeting the leadership of the club or anything like that.
“This is a club with a big following and we would want to hear ideas from the supporters as well. What we want is to put our house in order.
“So we would want to reassure all the stakeholders and partners of the club that we will have put our house in order by the team the next season starts,” said Kamba. However, DeMbare board secretary Mthokozisi Nkosi was suspicious of the meeting and its motives.
“We have heard about the meeting but we were not officially invited. Therefore, will not gatecrash. But even if we had been invited there are many questions that remain unanswered about this whole thing.
“In any case, there are personnel currently in office at Dynamos and if those people have brilliant ideas why shouldn’t they approach them? We are open to new ideas and to criticism as well.
“But then when we have a certain group decides to address supporters, won’t it look like we are creating unnecessary fissures and camps within Dynamos? What we want now is unity more than anything,” said Nkosi.
DeMbare, who have just emerged from another storm torched by the fallout between board chairman Bernard Marriot and president Kenny Mubaiwa, will be looking to put the discord behind them when they host Hwange.
Their last home game against Tsholotsho was poorly attended as supporters were not amused by the drama which had also seen assistant coach Murape Murape sacked, only to be reinstated within 24 hours.
Glamour Boys coach Lloyd Mutasa said they were concentrating on their job. “So we are just trying to be consistent at home. We know Hwange are not easy opponents, we also know we have been blowing hot and cold but all the same we want to appease our loyal fans who have remained behind this team irrespective of the fact that we are no longer fighting for the league title.
“So we would want to give it our best in the remaining matches,” said Mutasa. DeMbare welcomed defender Sydney Linyama to bolster their defence. But there were new casualties with Elisha Muroiwa and goalkeeper Tatenda Mukuruva being ruled out of tomorrow’s match.
Hwange are coming from a tumultuous week in which the players downed tools and threatened to boycott the trip to Harare over unpaid dues dating back to last year. The situation was still tense even after the club’s management had intervened and made undertakings to come up with a payment plan. But by yesterday they had not honoured their pledge to deposit the payments into the players’ accounts.
“The players had agreed to end the strike and returned to training after they were addressed by the management but they have not received what they were promised. So I don’t know what will happen next. They could revert to the strike,” said the source. Hwange players were expected to report for camp last night in preparation for the trip to Harare.
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