Sixteen games into the 2015 Castle Premier League, Highlanders Football Club once the giant of Zimbabwean soccer lie an unusual ninth position on the log much to the agitation of its multitude of fans.
In a snap ZimEye.com survey in the streets of Bulawayo after news that the Bulawayo giants had just played it’s sixth draw playing away to Triangle, Bosso supporters expressed responses full of shock and confusion with their club’s performance this season. The fans’ responses suggested that the majority of Highlanders fans are really not sure where the problem in their team is.
The fans’ responses seem to be blaming all and sundry about the club from the technical team to team admnistration to management and to the players with some shockingly even putting the blame on the supporters themselves. A couple however, would not agree with the general perception that the team was playing badly insisting the team will make a turnaround “soon”.
A majority of the fans interviewed threw the blame on the club’s rather unusual performance on coach Bongani Mafu. Mafu who took over the coaching duties at the beginning of the current season hasn’t been the fans’ favourite since he took over the reign following the departure of Kelvin Kaindu .
Bongani Mafu a former coach of now defunct Zimbabwe Saints Football Club is one of the country’s most qualified coaches with EUFA coaching qualifications and several CAF and local certificates making him on paper the rightful candidate to be on the thrown of a club of Highlanders’ statute. However, the Highlanders fans interviewed were quick to throw away the highly acclaimed coach’s qualifications insisting he is not the man to take charge of Highlanders.
One fan Dumisani Nkiwane from Iminyela Suburb of Bulawayo spared no soft words for the beleaguered coach. ” Mafu must just go he is unqualified to coach Highlanders. Even if he has all those certificates he must just take them and hang them in his bedroom and watch them with his wife than let us watch him kill Highlanders, ” he said.
Several other fans also echoed Nkiwane’s sentiments claiming that even if Mafu was that qualified he lacked the exposure and experience to coach a club like Highlanders. Clive Ngwenya from Sunninghill said Mafu could do well as an assistant coach or understudy to a more seasoned coach before he can take over at the club.
“Mafu is a very good coach but still needs to mature a little bit before he can take over at Highlanders. Perhaps the best is to redeploy him as an assistant to another experienced coach or be assigned to the juniors before he can be the head coach,” said Ngwenya.
Another sector of supporters absolved Mafu of the blame putting the blame on club management led by Chief Executive Officer Ndumiso Gumede and club executive led by Chairman Peter Dube. The fans claim without substantiating that the club officials are interfering with the technical team there by disturbing the team’s play on the pitch.
According to the fans the executive and management of the team choose the players to be acquired for the team without consulting the coach. Some even claim that the officials, particularly Gumede, actually play a hand in the selection of the team evidenced by the change in the time line up with every match.
The club board of directors led by business man Mgcini Nkolomi was also thrown into the chaos at Highlanders. The fans claim that the board of directors is also interfering with both the operations of the executive and the technical team. Sikhumbuzo Dube of Mzilikazi suburb said the board of directors had politicised the team by “selling it to ZANU PF” which is what turned the fortunes of the team.
“Mgcini Nkolomi is the number one to blame for Bosso’s problems he sold the team to Munangwa that’s why the team is losing because it’s being associated with losers,” said Dube.
Vice President Munangagwa was recently invited to officiate the hand over of a new bus acquired by the club through a donation by newly elected ZANU PF MP for Makokoba Tshinga Dube. The move was described by many as a campaign gimmick for Tshinga Dube at the June 10 by elections.
A friend of Dube who refused to be named added that Nkolomi facilitated Mafu’s engagement at Highlanders because Mafu is a regular client at the Board Chairman’s night club in the CBD of Bulawayo. “Nkolomi will never have Mafu fired as he brought him to Highlanders because he was top customer at Nkolomi’s bar.”
Another section of the fans blamed the players saying the players are not fully committed to the club and not giving their all to bring results to the team. The fans claimed that non of the current Bosso players are fit to wear the Zebra Highlanders jersey.
A few positive supporters however remained hopeful that the club will soon come right and even rated it high enough to be able to go all the way and win the league at the end of the season. This group of fans think that coach Bongani Mafu must be given a chance to rebuild the team. This group of fans attributed the string of bad results by the team on a cross section of supporters which they claim disturb the team by continually throwing accusations at the coach and officials of the club without giving solutions to the team.
“We have some very loud and destructive elements within the supporters who even led to the departure of former coach Kelvin Kaindu because they just want to be heard,” said Mluleki Sibanda of Luveve. “These people do not have the team at heart but their own agendas that end up destroying the team and they are happy when the team is losing.”
At position nine at the turn of the season only a miracle can see the Bulawayo giants clinch the title which the club fans are are so desperate for.
Just what us happening at Highlanders this year? The fans at Highlanders will continue asking.