Pasuwa, DeMbare stand off rages on

By Don Makanyanga

HARARE – Former Dynamos coach Kalisto Pasuwa, whose standoff with the Glamour Boys over unpaid salaries, bonuses and allowances escalated last week when he took the club to court, was actually owed $45 000 by the reigning Castle Lager Premier Soccer League champions, The Zimbabwe Mail has learnt.

An impeccable source close to the history making coach told The Zimbabwe Mail that towards the end of last year, Pasuwa was being owed close to $45 000, but the figure was later revised downwards to $26 000 after the coach, who led Dynamos to four successive league championships, took ownership of an Isuzu twin cab truck, apparently as part of a debt repayment arrangement with club president Kenny Mubaiwa.

But following further delays to the payment of the rest of the debt, Pasuwa took the court route, a development that Mubaiwa was not amused by with the DeMbare club president saying the club would have to recalculate the money they owe Pasuwa, while at the same time accusing the coach of hanging onto club property despite the fact that he was no longer employed by the Glamour Boys.

“He still has the team’s car (a Honda CRV SUV), television set, soccer balls, cons, uniforms among other things. We told him to come at the same time settle his debt but he is nowhere to be found,” charged Mubaiwa.

But yesterday, the source explained how the $26 000 figure that Mubaiwa is baulking came about.

“The club owed him (Pasuwa) close to $45 000 as of December until he went into an arrangement which saw him getting into an arrangement with the chairman therefore a reduction in the money which was being owed to him as the car was valued to be around $19 000, meaning the debt went down to $26 000,” said the source, who claimed that Pasuwa, as per his contract, was entitled to five percent of the prize money that the club got from every competition they would have participated under his guidance. That five percent, according to the source, was exclusive of the winning bonuses and allowances.

“Like I said before, Pasuwa’s dues reached that level because in the first instance he was entitled to five percent of the prize money from every competition that he would have participated and this did not include the winning bonuses and allowances,” said the source.

The Harare giants played a total of nine competitions in the 2014 season, namely the Castle Lager Premier League, Orange/Caf Champions League, Bob90 Cup, Chibuku Super Cup, One Wallet Cup sponsored by NetOne, TM Pick n’Pay Challenge Cup, Independence Cup, Commander ZNA Charities Soccer Shield and the Gushungo Super Cup.

While the Harare giants claimed that the history making coach had disappeared with the clubs belongings and was not willing to hold any out of court discussions, the source revealed that it was Pasuwa who had first courted Dynamos, writing to the club management over the need to settle the issue amicably.

“He wrote to the chairman on four occasions before engaging the services of a lawyer who went on to write to the chairman on three occasions as they sought to discuss a payment plan, but failure to get a reply from the club led him to take the matter with the courts,” said the source.

The source said the bad blood between the Pasuwa and Mubaiwa began midway during last season where it is alleged that the then Dynamos chairman (Mubaiwa’s title has since been changed to that of club president) had started to influence some technical decisions, prompting the former gaffer to mull quitting the club. However, the gaffer decided to stay until the end of the season after reaching an understanding with some board members.

“In terms of the issue of the car (Honda CRV) that Mubaiwa is saying Pasuwa is holding on to, the practice over the years has been that the coaches who came before him would go with vehicles they would have been using once their tenure ends,” said the source.

“The bad blood between Pasuwa and Mubaiwa-led led to efforts to frustrate the former coach as there would be delays in paying him his dues, while the rest of the squad received their bonuses and the same applied with the dues from the league championship triumph. Pasuwa as a quite person allowed that until it reached a point where he wanted to quit the club just after the mid-season break, but an understanding was reached with the board and that eventually saw him ending the season at the team,” added the source.

Source: The Zimbabwe Mail