HARARE giants, Dynamos are struggling to pay players their winning bonuses, with reports suggesting the footballers are owed around $2 000 each.
BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA
The players are reported to have expressed their displeasure at the failure by the club to pay them their winning bonuses and had threatened not to fulfil their final league match against Chicken Inn, which they won 1-0 a result not enough to clinch them the league title.
They had been assured the issue of bonuses would be addressed at the end of the campaign, after which they agreed to take to the field against the Gamecocks.
Sources said yesterday the players are owed bonuses from the last 14 matches. Dynamos pay their players a winning bonus of $200 and $70 for a drawn game. “The players have not been paid their winning bonus for quite some time. They have not been paid for about 14 matches,” the source said.
Contacted for comment, Dynamos president, Keni Mubaiwa confirmed the issue, but said he was not sure of the number of games the players have not been paid and referred questions to the treasurer, Webster Marechera.
“The issue is being addressed. I don’t think it’s unique because all companies in Zimbabwe are facing challenges in paying their workers. Dynamos are not an exception, but efforts are being made to address the issue. Personally, I wouldn’t know how many games the players have not been paid for. The best person to talk to is the treasurer,” he said.
Efforts to get a comment from Marechera were unsuccessful yesterday.
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Dynamos are bankrolled by their principal sponsors BancABC, but the funding is directed towards the payment of salaries alone, with the club expected to foot the bill for bonuses and other allowances. But with the number of supporters coming to watch football matches having plummeted towards the end of the season, it meant DeMbare, who rely mostly on gate takings, would struggle to pay their players.
The Glamour Boys had a slow start to the campaign under Lloyd Mutasa, who had to assemble a new team following the departure of several senior players.
The Dynamos gaffer, however, defied the odds and went on to fight for the championship to the very last day only to be pipped by FC Platinum, who won it for the first time since their promotion into the top-flight league.
