FORMER Warriors defender Lawrence Mhlanga’s career remains on the brink as it has emerged that his club Chicken Inn has written to Zifa requesting the player not to be registered by any club until his matter that is with the Labour Court is finalised.
BY FORTUNE MBELE
Mhlanga, whose deal with Chicken Inn ends on December 31, took the GameCocks to the Labour Court in March seeking to have his contract terminated and the matter is yet to be determined.
The defender reportedly signed with FC Platinum in December last year when he still had a running contract with Chicken Inn.
He went on to train with the league champions, which infuriated Chicken Inn, who then approached Zifa to step in.
Chicken Inn argue the player has been absent without official leave (AWOL) and has not seen through his contract with the club.
“We kindly request that the player (Lawrence Mhlanga) should not be allowed by your office to be registered by any team for any competition locally or internationally. The only team which has that right is our team where he is a player with a legally valid contract.
“The player has taken his matter to the courts through the Footballers’ Union of Zimbabwe (FUZ) and the matter is still pending. The player in his court papers is not arguing being our player and this is not in dispute,” reads the letter written by Chicken Inn treasurer Tavengwa Hara to Zifa and copied to the Premier Soccer League, FC Platinum and FUZ.
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After allegedly entering into an agreement with FC Platinum last December, the Zvishavane-based club sent him back to Chicken Inn to sort out his issues with the club before returning.
Chicken Inn complained to FC Platinum in May.
“We have gathered and realised that you are training with our contracted player for some time now without our authority or any authority from any mandated body to do that. We initially shelved our complaint thinking that you would realise that what you are doing is illegal and you would realise that FUZ is not an authorised body to give you such mandate,” Hara wrote in May, saying Mhlanga was still on a full salary at Chicken Inn.
FC Platinum acknowledged in May through secretary Benson Virimai that Mhlanga was a Chicken Inn player and requested for his services.
“FC Platinum is interested in the services of Lawrence Mhlanga, a player we discovered is contracted to your club. This is a follow-up to our tele-conversation and it’s aimed at amicably resolving the unfortunate stand-off that has left the player isolated and unable to play football, which is his only source of livelihood,” Virimai said.
In August, Chicken Inn once again approached Zifa to alert the football governing body that FUZ had taken them to court seeking the legal route to have Mhlanga cleared by the GameCocks, in disregard of football structures.
