HIGHLANDERS have benefited by close to $7 000 from nomadic striker Roderick Mutuma’s departure amid revelations that the player wrote off the debt that the club owed him and his new club Yadah FC bought off the remainder of his contract.
BY FORTUNE MBELE
Mutuma was owed $4 000 supposed to be paid by a club benefactor and $1 000 by the club in signing-on fees with Highlanders owing him an undisclosed sum in winning bonuses while sources have indicated that the Bulawayo football giants also received $1 500 from Yadah FC.
He leaves Highlanders barely six months after joining the club at the start of the season, with two goals to his name.
Highlanders acting chairman Modern Ngwenya yesterday confirmed Mutuma’s departure, saying they could not stand in his way if he was going for better remuneration.
“Admittedly we owed him some signing-on fees, but in the agreement he has cancelled that. It means we don’t owe Mutuma anything and Yadah gave us something,” Ngwenya said. “He is now a Yadah FC player and we wish him well. He applied himself very well, scored two goals and has been assisting fellow strikers score goals and we expected he was going to do better in the second half of the season.”
He added that Mutuma’s salary paid by sponsors BancABC could not sustain both him in Bulawayo and his family in Harare and he called on the club’s fans to understand his move in that sense.
“He (Mutuma) came to us and we sat down with him and allowed him to go. Our fans should be calm and not be angry with Mutuma. He is doing it for his family. It would be cruel for us to deny him an opportunity to go to Yadah where he will reunite with his family and get better remuneration. We want to thank him for coming to Highlanders and our supporters should also understand his move from this perspective,” Ngwenya said.
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He added that coach Erol Akbay was happy with Mutuma who did not cause any problems in his brief stay at Highlanders.
“We did not have any disciplinary issues with Mutuma. He was a very disciplined player and the coach was happy with him. Unfortunately his salary, according to him, could not sustain him here and his family in Harare. We had to make a mutually-beneficial decision. He had four months remaining in his contract, so it meant he was going to walk out without us getting anything,” he said.
Mutuma, who has also played for Dynamos and Caps in the top league locally and had a brief stint with Bloemfontein Celtic in South Africa, reportedly signed a six-month contract with Yadah FC for $4 000 on a salary $1 000.
Ngwenya said Akbay would have to play around with the other strikers at Highlanders to fill the void left by Mutuma.
