adminMguni twisted his knee and tore ligaments while landing from a mid-air tussle for possession in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier first round match against Burundi away in Bujumbura on 29 February last year.
He has never kicked a ball since then, both for his Russian top flight side Terek Grozny and the national team due to that injury that saw him being operated on in France and has so far forked about $100 000 from his own pocket in an effort to get back to the field. To make matters worse, his team has even excluded him from the present campaign although he remains on their payroll.
“Zifa did not even bother to send me an sms message wishing me a speedy recovery. Honestly what kind of people are they? All they want is for us to produce positive results for them yet they don’t have our welfare at heart,” said Mguni who is back in the country for a short visit.
He said when he picked up that injury in Bujumbura, the team doctors told him that they will not do anything to the injury as it was still fresh and that was that.
“I shudder to think what would have happened had it been a boy playing in the local league here at home, what would he have done in terms of his medical bills? His career could be over by now yet he would have been on national duty. Zifa messed up big time and something needs to be done,” fumed the gangly Mguni.
He said he felt dumped by his country and said his situation will scare other players who might fear ending their careers if they pick up injuries while on national duty as Zifa clearly demonstrated that they are not committed to the welfare of players.
Former national team coach, Rahman Gumbo, who was in charge of the Warriors when Mguni picked up the injury, is another victim of the national association’s insensitivity as he abruptly ended his career due to an ankle injury.
Players’ representative body, the Football Union of Zimbabwe’s secretary-general, Paul Gundani said Mguni should approach them with his problems and they will seriously engage Zifa over the matter.
He said it was mandatory for both club and country to foot Mguni’s bills, according to the Fifa statutes on players’ welfare.
“As FUZ we also believe that players should have a contract with Zifa whenever they are called up for national duty so that such eventualities are taken care of. We gave Zifa, through the board member competitions, Benedict Moyo a draft contract more than a year ago but he is still to get back to us,” said Gundani.
He said his organisation was deeply concerned about the welfare of players while on national duty and said Mguni deserves and should be compensated by both the club and the country.
Contacted for comment on the issue of contracts, Moyo said his board drafted a contract the moment they came into office and every player called for national team duty signs that contract, adding that so far no player had complained about the contents of the contract.
However, Mguni denied that there was ever a contract signed by players before matches.
“There is absolutely nothing like that. We were never made to sign any contracts,” he said.
Mguni is at the moment waiting for his visa so that he goes to Spain for his last review before flying to Europe to join a new team.
In June last year, Fifa introduced a Club Protection Programme that mandates clubs and countries to compensate players injured on national duty.
Online Reporter