By Staff Reporter
HARARE – Zimbabwe Warriors and Young Warriors coach Callisto Pasuwa will quit his job after the CAF Under-23 Championships qualifier against South Africa in Pietermaritzburg tomorrow night.
The former Dynamos coach has been in charge of the two national teams for over a year and is yet to lose a competitive game. He is however frustrated at the national association for not paying his salary despite endless promises to do so.
According to his manager Gibson Mahachi, the match in South Africa will be Pasuwa’s last one, irrespective of the result.
“We have decided that he goes with the team to South Africa for the sake of the nation that has supported him during this difficult period when he has been working with the national teams,” Mahachi said.
“But that will be his last game in charge because after that match he will step down from his role as the coach of the senior and Under-23 national teams because we feel he cannot continue working under such harsh conditions where he is not being paid by his employer and they seem not to care about his welfare at all.
“He has tried his best in very difficult circumstances, but we feel that his efforts are not being appreciated by those who employed him and all that they have been doing is give him promises that are never fulfilled which is very, very unfair.
“We have come to a point where we feel that it will be in the best interest of the coach, his family and his career that he steps down from the job that he has been doing with the national teams and he begins to weigh up other options that have been coming his way.
“Right now there are a number of local clubs that are interested in his services and once he has stepped down from his roles with the national teams we will be able to weigh up the options and see where he goes from here.
“It’s sad that things have come to this, but it’s been a very difficult time for him and his family; working all this time without being paid, being promised again and again that something will be given to him, but nothing coming his way and you have to feel for him and his family who expect him to provide what fathers are expected to deliver.”
“You would expect that they would be the ones who would come to explain that because of challenges they might be facing they can’t deliver on their promises, but all that we have been getting is just silence and even when you try to talk to them they simply ignore you,” said Mahachi.
“Before the game against Malawi when I met (ZIFA president) Cuthbert Dube, I told him that I did not want to come up with the payment plan or dates when they should deliver because I did not want to put them under pressure,” said Mahachi.
“I told him that they should tell us, given they were the ones who knew their plight, when they would be able to pay the coach and the ZIFA president told me they would have met all their obligations by the end of June.
“Now we have come to the end of July and nothing has happened and the coach is still expected to go out there and perform under such conditions, which we feel is very, very unfair.”
