Highlanders FC’s junior coaches last week went on a strike in protest over non-payment of salaries and failure by the club to offer them contracts.
The coaches are Dan Ngwenya, who heads the Under-14 and Under-16 teams and Under-20 coach Sizabantu Khoza. The trio’s contracts expired in December last year.
Bosso 90 coach Melusi Mabaleka Sibanda, has a running contract, also boycotted Saturday’s training session in solidarity with his colleagues. One of the coaches said:
We have been coming to work since the resumption of the pre-season preparations out of love for the team and also hoping that these guys will act on our situation, but sadly they are doing nothing about it and we felt enough is enough now. We have families to feed and we board public transport when coming to work, and the situation is now unbearable for us.
… our working conditions are terrible, no soccer balls and other basic things needed and when we tell them we are told all sorts of sad things. We are committed to our work, but we are family men as well.
Highlanders’ spokesperson Ronald Moyo could neither confirm nor deny the junior coaches’ contract situation.
Meanwhile, the three coaches said they have been told that they are volunteers and therefore must not “act desperate”.