DYNAMOS face an anxious wait to have Kingston Nkhatha eligible to play for the team, as it has emerged that it could take almost a month to have his clearance papers sorted. The Harare giants signed the veteran striker last week after he was released by South African Premiership side SuperSport United.
BY HENRY MHARA
There was hope in the Dynamos camp that the one week afforded to them by the cancellation of weekend matches would provide them with time to secure necessary papers for him to be registered.
However, it looks like the seven-day window would not be enough for the team to sort the clearance papers for the striker, who had attained a South African resident status, having met the minimum five years required to be eligible for permanent residence.
Nkhatha spent over a decade across Limpopo, having moved to South Africa in 2007, when he joined Free State Stars in a successful career that saw him go on to play for Kaizer Chiefs and SuperSport.
The striker, who turns 33 in October, currently holds a South African identity document, and will be required to secure a work permit for him to feature in the local league.
“We had hoped that we could secure all his papers this week, but the process is a bit more complicated and long than we had anticipated,” a team official said.
“We have received a clearance from SuperSport, the team he last played for. But since he had acquired SA permanent resident papers, we are required to register him as a foreigner. What it means is we will need to get an international transfer clearance from the South African Football Association for us to start processing his work permit. I understand the process could take two to three weeks,” the source added.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
No official comment could be obtained from Dynamos, as club’s secretary-general and spokesperson Webster Marechera was not reachable on his mobile phone.
This news would come as a huge blow to the team, which was hoping to use the striker when the league resumes most likely this weekend.
DeMbare travel to Highlanders next, and it’s highly likely that Nkhatha would miss the trip to Bulawayo.
The former Buymore striker is one of the four players that the club added to bolster the squad in the mid-season transfer window, together with Munashe Kaseke and returning stars Bret Amidu and Denver Mukamba.
Nkhatha, who started training with the Harare giants last week, is expected to breathe a new lease of life to what has been a poor Dynamos attack this season, which coach Lloyd Mutasa has pointed as the team’s main problematic area.
Strikers Quality Kangadze and Kuda Kumwala have failed to fill in the boots left by Cameroonian Christian Ntouba, who was frustrated out of the club at the start of the season.
The team has scored 17 goals in 20 games, fewer than Bulawayo City and Shabanie Mine, who have 18 and 19 goals respectively, two teams that are second bottom on the log standings.
Mutasa has blamed the lack of firepower for the dismal start to their season, where they are hovering just above the relegation zone and currently sit on 13th place with 22 points, three better than Nichrut who occupy the relegation cut-off point.
The Premier Soccer League was forced to cancel all the weekend’s league programme following political disturbances that rocked Harare on Wednesday last week that left at least six people dead.
