WITH three weeks to go before Zimbabwe host their Group L opponents Guinea in a 2017 Afcon qualifier, Zifa appear to be losing the battle to retain Kalisto Pasuwa as Warriors coach.
BY MICHAEL MADYIRA
Pasuwa quit the Warriors last month in protest over unpaid salaries for the 10 months he had been in charge of the senior national team as well as the Under-23s.
But Zifa declined to accept Pasuwa’s resignation hoping to convince him to reverse his decision after the coach’s management team opened talks with the association for payment guarantees.
Pasuwa and his management team yesterday waited in vain to hear Zifa’s position on persuading the former Dynamos coach to return to his job.
Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze and board member development John Phiri met Pasuwa’s manager Gibson Mahachi on Monday but their discussion did not yield any positive results.
Late yesterday, Mahachi was waiting for communication from Zifa who had promised to furnish him with what they could offer the coach.
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This underlines, Zifa’s struggle to lure back Pasuwa who has been stern on his position never to return until he is paid.
“Nothing has changed regarding the coach’s stance. When I last met them on Monday they said they will look into the issue and promised to get back to us today (yesterday) but up to now we have heard no word from them. We will just wait to hear from them and hope they come up with something acceptable,” said Mahachi.
“So as it stands, our position remains unchanged. I am not sure what Zifa are planning and I do not want to judge them. As the custodians of our football I believe they know what best they can do to solve this issue. Pasuwa is the only national team coach to have worked for 10 months without getting paid in Zimbabwe. He has not even received one month’s salary. The situation is deplorable.”
No comment could be obtained from Zifa yesterday.
After 10 months of patience, empty salary promises characterised Zifa’s attitude towards Pasuwa and the former Dynamos coach was incensed by what he viewed as “lack of respect from the association,” leading to him throwing in the towel.
If Zifa fail to retain the services of Pasuwa, it would pose a great danger of derailing Zimbabwe’s fine start in Group L in which they beat Malawi 2-1 away.
Given the calibre of Guinea, whom Zimbabwe have always struggled to beat, the current instability might not be an ideal ground in the run-up to this game.
The West Africans began their Afcon qualifying campaign on a false start by losing 2-1 at home to Swaziland.
