adminHe is arguing that the present situation does not benefit the club serve for personal egos of card holders.
Sibanda became a card-carrying member of Highlanders in 1970 after retiring as a player in 1968 after 18 years’ service. He was then appointed Highlanders juniors’ coach and later elevated to seniors coach before becoming the club’s organising secretary.
Sibanda said he had been religiously paying his annual subscriptions and in the process helping the club with the little financial injection it needs at the beginning each year.
“You find someone boasting that he is a life member of Highlanders khonapho wabhadala okuyi two pence way back. I believe we should do away with the life membership or if they want to keep it, we should have a clause which stipulates that every year we should be paying subscriptions to the club,” said Sibanda.
The Highlanders life membership card costs $80 while ordinary members pay $30 per year and the man who played for Tshilamoya from 1950-1968 believes members need to seriously look at the issue at the next annual general meeting.
Highlanders will have their annual general meeting on the last Sunday of next month.
Some schools of thought have suggested that the club should have started a new membership register at the introduction of multi-currency in 2009.
“We really need to seriously look at this issue because if we all renew our membership in January, the club will get a few cents to help in its day-to-day running before the season starts in March but if we are all Life
Members, having joined way back, where will the club get the money from?” asked Sibanda.
He said it was important to realise that community teams like Highlanders depend on income from its members.
Sibanda pioneered the club’s junior programme the year he retired as a player, starting off with players like Douglas Mloyi’s elder brother Tennyson, Kainoti Luphahla and Collen Dube.
For years the project has been the envy of many.
Sibanda said Life Membership should be reserved for those outstanding individuals that have contributed immensely towards the well-being of the club.
Online Reporter