Zimpapers Logo

Sharuko on Saturday
THEY say you never know what you have until it’s gone and the world has been treated to a number of songs, over the years, centred around that theme, from the hard-core rap of Kanye West to the melody of Monica.I actually fell in love with Monica’s song, ‘Until It’s Gone’, written and produced by Missy Elliot in 2011, which explores the breakdown of an old relationship and peaked at number 22 on the Hot R&B Hip Hop songs charts.

I remember when I used to sing-a-long the lyrics and felt her pain when she said “gave my love and you took the s**t for granted and it was me those nights that you didn’t come home, crying to my mamma, blowing up your phone.”

Every verse was so powerful, the words so realistic, the rhythm so strong and this, indeed, was the story of a broken heart, shattered dreams, a relationship that promised so much, but ultimately, didn’t run its course to deliver the projected fruits.

“It’s a shame you ain’t wanted when you had it
Gave my love and you took the s**t for granted
And it was me those nights that you didn’t come home
Crying to my mamma, blowing up your phone

Just wait a little while
Baby you gonna see
That this gonna hurt you
More than it hurt me

One thing that I know for sure
Is you gonna miss me when I go
And it’s gonna hurt babe
When you’re all alone

I guess it’s true what people say
That you never know
What you have until it’s gone
You can never say I didn’t try.”

And all those lyrics came flooding into my thoughts on Saturday night as I watched Callisto Pasuwa in his final assignment for his nation, every word from that song a powerful reminder of how the coach’s relationship with his employers had suddenly turned toxic, and a relationship that had begun on a very promising note, ending very prematurely.

The last verse appeared to have been written for this divorce, “I guess it’s true what people say, that you never know what you have until it’s gone, you (ZIFA) can never say that I didn’t try.”

Not after having gone for 10 months without being paid a cent by employers who promised they would be there for you, in good and bad times, treat you with the respect that should be accorded a man in your position, a man handed the burden of leading his national football team and not only working for the senior side, but also the junior one as well.

Not after toiling for close to a year, in this tough job, without even the security that comes with medical aid for him and his family, without the subsistence to put food on his table, without the respect from employers he has served with distinction and just getting a package of promises and lies, that something will be delivered his way tomorrow, a tomorrow that never came.

He tried to hang on, to a job that he loved, the ultimate job that anyone can dream of, being handed the responsibility to coach your national team, and he was doing fine, for a rookie in these trenches and his Young Warriors qualified for the Africa Games and his Warriors started their 2017 Nations Cup qualifiers with a bang in Malawi.

Not even Cameroon, the Indomitable Lions whose popularity around the world, which peaked at the World Cup in Italy in ’90 when Roger Milla and his goals and suggestive dances propelled them into global superstars, has certainly now been dwarfed by our Cecil, in his death, could stop Pasuwa’s men in their charge to the Africa Games.

And not even a troubled build-up, and a punishing road trip to Malawi on the eve of the game, arriving in Blantyre just hours before the game, could stop Pasuwa and his Warriors from powering to a dream start, to their 2017 Nations Cup campaign, as they extinguished the Flames in their backyard with a performance rich in determination, quality and a never-say-die spirit it cheered the entire football world.

But to neglect the welfare of a man, who lost just one competitive man in his dual role in charge of the Young Warriors and the Warriors, to the extent of treating him as an outcast who didn’t deserve even a penny for 10 months of service, was at best immoral and at worst criminal on the part of those who employed him on the promise that they will take care of his needs, including basic ones like a salary.

To ill-treat someone, with so much promise, the way we have ill-treated Pasuwa and turned his dream job of coaching his national team into a horror assignment, where his family even regrets that their father chose to battle for the cause of a nation that decided his efforts were not worthy a penny, for them to get food on the table, for them to go to school, is unforgivable.

In the months that he has worked for his country, we have stripped Pasuwa of the dignity that he earned in four years in the hot seat at Dynamos, made him a poorer man, made his family hate his association with football and wonder what has suddenly gone wrong for a game that gave them so much during his spell at DeMbare, when his salary was guaranteed, when their school fees were guaranteed and there was food on their table.

THE QUESTIONS THAT ZIFA MUST ANSWER
Yes, ZIFA are stuck deep in financial woes, we all know that, but what’s the use of hiring a coach and promising him that you will pay him his dues, including basics like a salary, when you can’t do that in 10 months and you knew fully well, from the very beginning, that you would not be able to meet your side of the bargain?

Why did they promise Pasuwa and his manager, when they met at the beginning of June, that everything will have been sorted out by the end of that month, when they knew fully well that they did not have the capacity to deliver on their promise and the financial resources that this would be done as pledged?

If ZIFA got $1 050 000 from FIFA, as part of the Financial Assistance Programme, this year alone and if so, why did our football leaders not ensure that a small chunk of that money and here we are not even talking about $50 000, but even $20 000, should be directed to the coach who was taking charge of our national teams?

Given that part of the funds, $300 000, were specifically for “Men’s Competitions” didn’t this mean that we could have taken something from that money and directed it into Pasuwa’s account to ensure that the leader of our national teams had something to fall back on, in terms of securing food for his family and sending his kids to school?

If those funds were not used for such key requirements, like our coach’s salary, what were they used for and wasn’t that a diversion given that FIFA knew fully well that we needed financial support to ensure that our national teams, and those who lead them, were fully catered for?

If you can get $1 million, in just seven months and decide that there is no reason to use any of that amount, even a penny, to pay the coach who is leading your national teams, isn’t that an insult to that man, especially against a background where you would have loaded him with two tough jobs to coach the junior and senior national teams?

If the Warriors’ coach is not a priority, that he cannot get even a penny, when the Association gets $1 million from FIFA, isn’t that a sign that the football leadership doesn’t care about, not only his welfare and that of his family, but the future of the very team that means so much to the people of this country?

Isn’t this the same problem, where we treat national team coaches, as if they are useless individuals who don’t deserve to be paid for their specialist services, which has triggered the trouble that we find ourselves in today, suffering the embarrassment of being expelled from the 2018 World Cup without kicking a ball for not paying Valinhos and isn’t our ill-treatment of Pasuwa a sign that we haven’t leant anything from that fiasco?

Ian Gorowa says he wasn’t paid for eight months, during his tenure as Warriors’ coach and Pasuwa wasn’t paid for 10 months, does it mean that we haven’t paid the men who have been in charge of our national teams, for the past 18 months, that is close to two years and it should all be normal when we have received more than $1,5 million from FIFA, during that period, and another $250 000 from CAF for our CHAN success story?

If we feel that our national team coaches should not be paid and they should just be doing a national service, or maybe community service, whatever appeals to you better, why then do we give them an impression that we are going to find the funds to pay them, when we engage them, only to fail to deliver all the time?

Sadly, in the case of Pasuwa, ZIFA will never know what they had, until it’s gone and the tragedy is that the entire nation, which dreams of seeing the Warriors playing at the next Nations Cup finals, has to suffer because a coach, who started with a lot of promise, has now decided that he can’t take it anymore and walked away from the national teams set-up.

It has taken the Glamour Boys only seven months to realise that they never knew what they had, when Pasuwa was in charge of their team, until it was gone, with David Mandigora failing to step into his big shoes and being kicked out of their system halfway into his comeback season as DeMbare head coach.

Interestingly, in the week that Pasuwa announced that he was ending his relationship with ZIFA, because he could not live with the false promises, Malawi announced that they have appointed their football legend, Ernest Mtawali, as their head coach, so that he has about a month to prepare for their next assignment against Swaziland.

But, simply because we won in Malawi, we now believe that it’s done and dusted, we will be at the next Nations Cup finals and even if Pasuwa decides to walk away, as he has done, who cares, because we can ask Nation Dube to take over and everything will just sail smoothly, even against a background where we won’t pay him too.

As shown by the way our Young Warriors were hammered in South Africa on Saturday night, there is no substitute for preparations in this game, and Pasuwa — to his credit — kept saying it, again and again, that one day our passion for short-cuts would be exposed, and at the Harry Gwala Stadium, all his words came true.

FOR THE SINS OF OUR FATHERS
The provisional High Court order this week, barring ZIFA from issuing international clearances for CAPS United players who might have secured deals in foreign countries, made very interesting reading and it’s a massive blow for individuals, in this case players, who were not part of the deal between their club’s leaders and the Harare businessman who loaned the Green Machine $55 000 two years ago.

Why should the players be victims of a transaction that they were not party to, which they probably didn’t even know, and which their leaders entered into without their consent, as professionals and as adults, who should also have a stay in such situations?

I would have expected ZIFA to say that their immediate priority would be to bring CAPS United and Nobert Chawira, the businessman who poured his funds into the Green Machine two years ago, to a round-table so that they thrash out a deal which will ensure that, whatever happens going forward, the players should not suffer for the sins of their fathers.

Oscar Machapa wasn’t at CAPS United when the deal was struck, he was representing their ultimate enemy Dynamos, and on his return home, to the Green Machine, after six years, why should his proposed move to AS Vita of Congo be destroyed by something that he doesn’t know and which he wasn’t party to?

Ronald Pfumbidzai wasn’t at CAPS United when this deal was struck, he was somewhere in the Lowveld making a name for himself and why should his proposed deal to move to Sweden be hampered by an arrangement that he doesn’t know and whose benefits he didn’t enjoy?

Gerald Phiri wasn’t at CAPS United two years ago this deal was struck, he was playing football in the backwaters of the Malawian Premiership and why should his proposed deal to move to South Africa be destroyed by a contract that he was not party to?

Chawira should be paid his money, it’s as simple as that, and ZIFA, as the mother body, should find a way of bringing the businessman and CAPS United, who are also under a new leadership which was not part of that deal, together so that a solution can be found outside the courtroom.

To God Be The Glory!

Come On United!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chicharitoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Text Feedback — 0772545199
WhatsApp Messenger – 0772545199
Email — [email protected]
Skype — sharuko58
Chat with me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter @Chakariboy, interact with me on Viber and on ZBC’s weekly television football magazine programme, GamePlan on Monday nights, or read my material in The Southern Times. SEND ME YOUR PICTURES, IN YOUR LOCAL TEAM COLOURS, THROUGH WHATSAPP, EMAIL OR FACEBOOK AND THEY COULD BE PUBLISHED ON THIS COLUMN AS PART OF OUR CELEBRATIONS FOR 35 YEARS OF ZIMBABWE FOOTBALL.