Premier Soccer League (PSL) giants Highlanders’ players boycotted training yesterday demanding their winning bonuses for the matches against Dongo Sawmill, Flame Lily and WhaWha.
BY THANDIWE MOYO
The Bulawayo giants face FC Platinum in Match Day 12 at Mandava Stadium in Zvishavane on Saturday.
Bosso secretary Emmett Ndlovu confirmed the developments last night, but said the club had no money to pay the players at the moment because of the poor attendance in the past matches.
Highlanders have four wins in 11 matches, twice at home against Hwange (1-0) and Whawha (2-0) and their other two wins are from away matches.
“We owe the players winning bonuses from wins against Dongo, Flame Lily and WhaWha. We don’t owe them not because we do not want to pay them, but we owe them because we do not have the money to pay them,” Ndlovu said.
Highlanders, whose players’ salaries are paid by their sponsors BancABC, lost at home against Caps United and Chapungu on a 1-0 scoreline and drew against Harare City 1-1, and have been failing to command their average 10 000-plus fans at home matches.
“The crowds have been low of late because the team has not been performing well. We do not have a source of revenue at the moment to pay them. It is our obligation to pay them, but at the moment, the team has not been playing well and the crowds have not been good,” Ndlovu said.
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He said he was not going to address the players until he had the money to pay them.
“I will not go and address them. I have to raise the money first and if I raise that money on Saturday, they will have to play because if they don’t, we will be fined by the PSL,” he said.
“I will not talk to them. If they do not want to train, then it’s fine. I will leave them like that until we get the money to pay them and at the moment, the club does not have the money to pay them.”
Highlanders are not the only team facing financial problems as Caps United has grappled with similar situations since last year until the takeover by Harare businessman Farai Jere over the weekend.
Caps even failed to play an away match against How Mine in Bulawayo, which was supposed to be screened live on SuperSport.
