Hwange seek official Nation Dube ban confirmation

FOLLOWING the five-year ban imposed on their coach Nation Dube by the Zimbabwe Football Association in June, Hwange are livid that they are yet to receive official communication to that effect more so that the mentor was still on their payroll.

Dube, the former Warriors assistant coach was fingered among other officials who included the association’s former chief executive officer Henrietta Rushwaya, former programmes officer Jonathan Musavengana, former board member Edzai Kasinauyo and former Warriors coach Ian Gorowa as part of a group that was allegedly planning to fix Zimbabwe’s 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier against Swaziland.

When the allegations initially surfaced, Hwange were reportedly forced by Zifa to suspend Dube until he cleared his name. He was suspended in March before the ban in June. Rushwaya and Musavengana were banished from football for life, while Kasinauyo and Gorowa were handed 10-year bans.

However, in an interview this week Hwange chairman Joseph Zulu said they had not received official communication from Zifa hence they were still fulfilling Dube’s contractual obligations that included paying his salary. He said they had to that effect written to Zifa through the Premier Soccer League (PSL) over the matter.

“We wrote to Zifa through the PSL for them to give us their official position in writing on our suspended coach Nation Dube,” said Zulu.

Following Dube’s suspension from all football related matters, Chipangano assigned caretaker coaches Meebelo Njekwa and Brian Njobvu to lead the team. Zulu also said they were so far happy with both the performance of the coaching staff and players.

“We have no complaints on the team’s performance so far, we are satisfied with the technical department together with the performance of players,’’ he said.

Hwange are sitting on position 11 on the league table with 18 points having played 14 games. Following the Dube ban, Hwange Colliery Company Limited managing director Thomas Makore said it (ban) would impact badly on the club. Dube, a former Hwange FC gifted midfielder had been, hitherto, in the club’s coaching structures for 10 years.