Kamba: Door open for Marriot

By Godknows Matarutse

The newly-chosen Dynamos board of directors yesterday extended an olive branch to Bernard Marriot as the battle to control the Glamour Boys heats up.

Former DeMbare player and coach Ernst Kamba was appointed the interim board chairman at an Extra-ordinary General Meeting (EGM) held on Saturday in the capital.

Kamba’s board, which includes five-time Soccer Star of the Year George Shaya, Graciano Kapfunde, Sam Komondo, Simon Sachiti, Joseph Tsuro, Peter Huni, Isdore Sagwete and David Phiri, will be in office for the next 40 days as they organise elections.

Although they have been at loggerheads with Marriot in the last eight years, Kamba and his colleagues feel there is no need to keep on fighting while the club’s decline continues unabated.

“There is going to be a taskforce that is going to work towards raising resources for the team and it will start as soon as possible.

“The taskforce shall include former players as well as the fans because they are an integral part of the club,” Kamba told the Daily News.

“From here, we are going to communicate with Marriot and his colleagues to ensure we reach a consensus. The door is open for him to work with us; we don’t want to fight with him.

“We are only saying those who played for Dynamos should be afforded the opportunity to be part and parcel of this great team.”

Efforts to get a comment from Marriot proved fruitless as his phone was not reachable.

Before Saturday’s EGM, Marriot’s camp had dismissed the meeting as an “unsanctioned gathering” and they were not going to recognise any of the decisions reached.

Yesterday, the interim board met to appoint an interim executive that saw Kamba being elected as the chairman while Simon Sachiti was appointed the vice-chairman.

Graciano Kapfunde will assume the secretary-general duties while the position of treasurer will be announced in due course following further consultations.

After winning the title on four straight occasions between 2011 and 2014, Dynamos’ fortunes have changed in the last two years as they have finished without any important silverware.

This season, the Glamour Boys started the season badly under Portuguese coach Paulo Jorge Silva as they picked up only one win in their opening five matches.

Silva, who had a short fuse and clashed with a number of people during his short stay, was sacked and replaced by Lloyd Mutasa.

Under Mutasa, the Glamour Boys finished the season in fifth place as they struggled to keep up the pace with the leading pack.

Off the field, the Glamour Boys board led y Marriot also failed to pay off a loan of $250 000 owed to CBZ Bank dating back to 2011.

The club, Marriot, former executives Farai Munetsi, Harrison Mbewe and Mike George all lost property to bailiffs due to the debt.

This prompted the Kamba faction to step up their efforts to regain control of the DeMbare as they feared losing the club to the debt.

“We have a current situation prevailing at the club where we are saddled with a debt from CBZ amounting to a staggering $250 000. Now innocent persons have been dragged in, to own up to the debt,” Kamba said before Saturday’s meeting.

“Worse still it is their wives who now bear the burden as they have lost their properties seized by the Sherriff to the extent that even Chiminya’s widow has been called to own up.

“Surprisingly Marriot, who sings the parrot’s song that he is the chairman is nowhere to be seen, seemingly gone into hiding and has done absolutely nothing about it.”  Daily News