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The Nyakutsikwa executive organised a roadshow last weekend which was meant to bring Dynamos players to Bulawayo to meet their supporters.
However, the roadshow did not go as they had planned as the players were said to be in Marondera that weekend and only the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League trophy was brought to Bulawayo.
Nyakutsikwa believes that they were “sabotaged” by former executive member Ernest Imbayarwo.
Imbayarwo was the vice-chairperson of the Mapanzure led committee and is said to have posted on his Facebook page that there would be no roadshow taking place.
“We had organised a roadshow at the weekend to meet the players but the players did not turn up because we were told that they were in Marondera. We believe that Ernest Imbayarwo posted on his Facebook page that the players had something to do with this,” said Nyakutsikwa who is the interim committee’s organising secretary.
Initially Nyakutsikwa said he did not know who Imbayarwo is but later said he knew him and that he (Imbayarwo) was part of the old executive.
He said the former executive had not been working for almost three years as they stopped in 2008.
“We approached the national chairperson for the supporters and informed him that the executive was not doing anything for the supporters and they advised us to come up with an interim committee that would hold fort until the next elections in January,” said Nyakutsikwa.
He said for a new executive to be ushered in, there has to be more than 25 members present.
“There were more than 25 members who were present. We also informed the former executive that we had formed an interim committee that would run the affairs of the association until the next elections,” he said.
The interim committee is now led by Nyakutsikwa although they had appointed a Chiminyu to be acting chairperson.
“Chiminyu has not been working since his appointment so at the moment there is no one holding that position. The treasurer is Wilbert, secretary general is Munyaradzi Gotore and there are five committee members,” he said.
The interim executive also has a new patron Dumi Mutorera who takes over from Nhamo Rusamo.
However, Sunungurai Bhiza, the public relations officer of the former executive, disputed the fact that they were informed of their ouster.
“We are not aware that there is a new executive that was appointed. We want everything to be transparent and want supporters to know what is going on within the executive. We were not even told about the roadshow and only read about it in the paper,” he said.
Bhiza said what puzzled them the most was that the interim executive was making people pay to see the trophy, something which Nyakutsikwa denies although he agrees that there were “tickets that were being sold for people to get into the party”.
“People were asked to pay $10 to be able to see the trophy and we believe that this is against the club’s policy. We do not even know whether the money reached its intended use and whether it was for the players or for their personal use,” said Bhiza.
Nyakutsikwa said the money that they raised through the sale of the tickets for the party was meant for the families of the deceased supporters and the injured.
Four Dynamos supporters were killed in a road accident on their way to watch the FC Platinum-Dynamos league match in Zvishavane.
“However, when we realised refreshments were running low we used the money to buy more beer. We managed to sell only a few tickets so we used all the money,” said Nyakutsikwa.
Bhiza said they felt that there were people who were using the club’s name to further their own agendas and this was evidenced by the fact that people were made to pay.
“It is unacceptable that they were making people pay for something that is meant to be free. At the moment Dynamos is trying to raise funds to take part in the Champions League and we do not know if this money was meant to assist the players. It does not make sense that supporters were made to pay $3 to watch a soccer match and then $10 to see the trophy. We do not operate like that,” he said.
Bhiza said they would want to know whether the executive was aware that supporters were made to pay to see the trophy and whether they were the ones who authorised that.
“If they are fundraising they should let us know whether the money is for incentives for the players or to assist them when they take part in the Champions League. If it’s fundraising they are after, we also want to assist,” he said.
Bhiza said in the past they had organised parties that were attended by supporters from other clubs as well and it was surprising why they were not told.
Nyakutsikwa said people would want to be involved when the team is doing well and that their executive was transparent.
He said Mapanzure was also present at the party although he was not part of the organisers.
Dynamos won the Castle Lager PSL Championship and the Mbada Diamonds Cup and, together with FC Platinum, are Zimbabwe’s representatives in the Champions League.
Online Reporter