By Petros Kausiyo
DYNAMOS’ championship winning coach Callisto Pasuwa is still to be given a substantive contract amid revelations that a storm in brewing in the Harare giants’ camp over the former Warriors midfielder’s fate.
Pasuwa waved his magic wand to turn around the Dynamos ship as he guided them to a league and cup double after taking over the reins from close friend Lloyd Mutasa.
When he added the inaugural Mbada Diamonds Cup to his success story in a campaign in which Dynamos did not concede a goal on their way to sealing a double, Pasuwa thought he had done enough to convince the Glamour Boys management that he is the man for the job.
But it has emerged that the coach’s bid to secure a long-term deal at Dynamos has remained in limbo as he is still to sign a contract with the Premiership kings.
Although a series of meetings were held from the time that the coach helped Dynamos end a four-year wait for the championship, those meetings have not yielded any fruits.
Instead it is revelations of underhand manouvres being made to possibly replace him with DeMbare’s former coach, Zambian Keegan Mumba, which is now believed to have stalled moves to confirm Pasuwa as the substantive gaffer ahead of the 2012 season.
Those rumours linking Mumba with a return to Dynamos and the events surrounding the manner in which the Harare giants have handled the issue related to Pasuwa’s contract have also cast a shadow on yet another indaba that has been lined up between club secretary Nyika Chifamba and the coach today.
Pasuwa had also reportedly tried to adopt a wait and see attitude having laid his cards on the table at the request of the Dynamos executive. But the often media-shy coach opened up yesterday and painted a grim picture of the pressure and the torment he has had to go through as he awaits to know his fate at Dynamos.
It has also emerged that neither Pasuwa nor his lieutenants in the technical department have been involved in Dynamos’ recruitment of new players including the Zambian pair of Derrick Kabwe and Arthur Kaseloka.
But it is the alleged “unprofessional conduct” of some members of the DeMbare executive to leak to the Dynamos supporters leadership, the draft contract in which Pasuwa had tabled his demands which has upset the coach and also fuelled mistrust between the two parties.
The supporters leadership through their chairman Felix Dzukwa have also reportedly heaped pressure on Pasuwa to transfer-list the pair of veteran midfielder Leo Kurauzvione and goalkeeper Phillip Nhete but the coach has remained steadfast that the pair remain a part of his plans for as long as he is in charge of the team selection.
Pasuwa said the uncertainty over his contract and “recent events at the club” had left him unsure on whether he should go ahead and plan for the Dynamos’ pre-season preparations. That issue also looks set to be central to today’s crisis meeting.
“It is true that I am still to get a contract and at the moment I am not sure when that will happen, maybe it will be there after a meeting that has been called for tomorrow, maybe there will be from another meeting on another day because the club has not offered any contract expect to say come up with your own draft which I did.
“I have tried to keep quiet but what hurt me last week was to be confronted by some supporters at Magaba (in Mbare) claiming that they had seen a copy of the draft contract I had submitted to the club and felt that I was making outrageous demands.
“They even had the exact figures of the salary and allowances I had proposed and I thought that document was only for the executive to discuss with me.
“I have no problems with them appointing a coach of their choice but I think the professional thing to do would be to discuss contract terms with me rather than the supporters. I need to know well on time whether I will have the mandate to coach the team again so that I can plan my program on time and identify more players for both the Champions League and local assignments,” Pasuwa said.
The coach also revealed that the entire technical team were still to be rewarded for winning the league and cup double and questioned “whether the executive was united in appreciating what we did for the club.”
“I did not set any conditions in writing for winning the league or the Mbada Cup because I acted in good faith just like I used my car and other personal resources for all the games I was in charge… I was doing it for the good of the club but since achieving success in the league and in the cup there has been nothing for us as a technical team as a form of reward and you wonder whether everyone appreciates what you did.
“If the supporters were just speculating I would have dismissed some of their talk as rumour but when you hear them discuss exactly the same things that are in the draft contract that I submitted to the executive it hurts and to me that is unprofessional because that should be the matter between the executive and me.”
Pasuwa said he had also appeared to unruffle some feathers in the DeMbare executive when he included Kurauzvione and Nhete in his provisional Champions League squad but left out Timire Mamvura.
“I was asked to submit an initial 19 names for the Champions League and the indication was that the club was leaving the other six slots for possible new recruits. I consulted the team doctors and they advised that they did not feel that Wonder Sithole and Desmond Maringwa would be fully fit in time for the first round matches but could be considered if we progressed to the mini-league.
“Because I had three defensive midfielders in Milton Makopa, Devon Chafa and Leo, I also felt that Mamvura could also be considered if we reached the mini-league but that has not gone down well with some in the executive to an extent that I have even received phone calls from the chairman of the supporters Felix Dzukwa questioning why I included Leo and Nhete.
“Dzukwa also told me that they would oppose any moves to bring back Norman Maroto or to sign Zvenyika Makonese if the coaches were planning on getting those players.
“I had been told that we would provisionally register 19 players while we were looking for more but I was surprised to read in the press that we actually had 25 players including Zambians on our list,” Pasuwa said.
It is the manner in which the club’s leadership and the sudden involvement of supporters in management and technical matters, Pasuwa also said, that had left him with a huge doubt on whether chairman Kenny Mubaiwa’s executive are acting in good faith.
The coach’s revelations are now expected to set the tone for a “clear the air indaba” between Mubaiwa’s management committee and Pasuwa’s technical team. The Herald