Online Reporter
Innocent Kurira, Zimpapers Sports Hub
HIGHLANDERS coach Pieter De Jongh says he has offers from several clubs, yet his heart remains in Bulawayo. He insists he wants another season at Highlanders because he believes he has unfinished business at a club that only just escaped relegation.
His contract ends in December and he arrived with a single brief, to rescue Bosso from the drop. He did that, but the manner of the escape exposed the club’s deeper problems. In nine matches he won one, lost one and drew the rest. It was an unremarkable run on paper, though it was enough to avoid disaster in a season where survival became the ceiling.
He walked into a team already sliding under interim coach Try Ncube, who had managed only one win in eight games. De Jongh’s debut delivered a crucial 1-0 win over Bikita Minerals at Gibbo Stadium, which steadied nerves and bought time. He then carried the team to the Chibuku Super Cup semifinals before Dynamos ended their run.
Highlanders closed the league in 11th place on 39 points after a tense 1-1 draw with Chicken Inn on the final day. For a club of Bosso’s size, the relief felt brief. It was survival, not success.
De Jongh says if he gets a new deal, he wants to lead a full rebuild. Even with approaches from other clubs, he says he has no intention of walking away.
“There is a lot of interest in me but I won’t say,” he said.
“I love Highlanders and I love the fans and I have told the executive that I want to stay. I have done my job, which was to survive relegation. If I stay then we fight next season to get a top six position. I have worked in many countries and when you have done that it’s only normal that you get interest, but I would love to stay at Highlanders and the committee knows that. I love the club. The committee knows I want to stay and build a team that will be in the top six, maybe top five. Highlanders is a big club and my mission was not to have the club go down and I have done that,” said De Jongh.
His return has stirred mixed memories. In 2019 he delivered the Chibuku Super Cup, calmed a fractured dressing room and secured a sixth place finish.
His departure soon after, choosing FC Platinum despite verbally agreeing to stay, left a lasting sting among supporters. That move backfired when Caf rules blocked him from leading FC Platinum in the Champions League because he did not hold a Caf A Licence, forcing the club to restore Norman Mapeza.
De Jongh’s career has always moved quickly. Kenya, South Africa, Hungary, Mongolia, Somalia and Malawi are only part of a long list. He has coached more than 20 teams in three decades and rarely stayed beyond a season. His abrupt exit from Malawi’s Silver Strikers added to a catalogue of short spells and complicated endings. It is this trail of brief stints that earned him the nickname, The Dutch Nomad, a label that speaks to both his reach and the uncertainty that seems to follow him.
