Makunde sacked ahead of Africa Netball Cup
SENIOR netball team coach Lloyd Makunde has been sacked ahead of the Africa Netball Cup that gets underway in South Africa today.
The Zimbabwe mbabwe Netball Association (Zina) executive led by Leticia Chipandu fired Makunde e after he complained about his unpaid allowances es from the 2019 Vitality Netball World Cup up held in Liverpool, England, where he guided d the Gems to an eighth-place finish against all l odds in their maiden appearance in the global l finals.
Zimbabwe bwe has been drawn in Pool B and will open n their tournament against Uganda today before fore facing off with Kenya tomorrow and Tanzania ania the following day.
Despite e preparing the team for the South African trip, Makunde was surprisingly booted out ut at the last minute and replaced by his deputy y Ropafadzo Mutsauki.
Mutsauki uki was immediately caught up in a selection storm yesterday after an audio of him allegedly talking to a former Harare City player Christine Gandanzara, who turns ns out for Beta Queens, which is affiliated to the splinter Rainbow Amateur Netball League, went viral. In the audio, the person identified as Mutsauki is heard telling the player to come back to Harare City if she wants to be included in the national team.
“Just phone Dorothy (Harare City team manager), apologise and tell her you want to return retur to the team. Once you have hav done that, I will make sure yo you are in the squad. Your plac place (in the squad) is guarantee guaranteed as long as you humble yourse yourself and return. I have been callin calling you on numerous occasion occasions without success and you don don’t even bother to return my calls.” calls