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Eddie Chikamhi Sports Reporter
Boardroom squabbles at Chiredzi took an interesting twist yesterday after Moses Chunga dismissed the executive’s decision to fire him and vowed he is staying put as the team’s head coach.
Chunga has had frosty relations with some members of the executive and he was shown the exit following a marathon meeting, at the weekend, which he did not attend.

The club’s management made the announcement at a Press conference on Monday, but the former Zimbabwe international yesterday rubbished their resolutions while insinuating that they had no basis to fire him.

“I have read about it and the problem is that these people are only firing me in the newspapers and on social networks, wobva watoshaya kuti zvinhu zvacho zviri kufamba sei?

“I didn’t want to comment on this issue because it would appear like I am always after controversy. I have given my position before and I am not discussing that again until probably next week when I have sat down and seen what exactly is happening.

“Otherwise, I don’t want to tarnish my name with such issues. I have been in football for about 32 years and many things have been written and said about me.

“It has been like that, in our trade we must always interact with the media, but some people end up having wrong perceptions about me. I don’t know what they want to portray about me.

“Otherwise at this point I can only say ‘que sera sera’ which means ‘what will be will be’.

“If they say they fired me for poor results, then what have they done as the executive for the team? You can also ask them to produce their contract with me and whether it was performance-based or not.”

The club’s organising secretary George Dhliwayo yesterday produced documents to show that Chunga was more than just a coach as he is officially mentioned as a director of the franchise as well. Dhliwayo maintained that the executive’s decision was therefore null and void.

Documents show that the franchise is owned by Chunga and the community after the outspoken coach led a spirited campaign to continue with the team following the decision by Hippo Valley to disband the club early this year.

Dhliwayo said the veteran coach successfully represented the community and they effectively got the franchise from Zifa on January 14 with the Chunga as the director.

“These guys claim that they got the franchise from Tongaat Hulett as a donation on February 7 but that was way after it was handed over to Chunga and the community by Zifa and registered at the PSL.

“All the players’ registrations were done by Chunga and myself. It’s all interesting what these guys are claiming about the ownership of the club.

“The club was registered in January and they cannot just wake up in July to say they were not aware about the structures, yet they have been involved all along.

“All the official club documents here bear Chunga’s cellphone numbers on the letterhead. Why would they put an employee’s number on the letterhead?

“Chunga himself designed the logo which is registered at PSL. I think these guys are not being honest with themselves. Their decision to fire him is a nullity.

“You know there is a problem when an executive sits down and claim that they are firing their director. It just can’t happen that way,” said Dhliwayo.

The Chiredzi executive, led by Charles Muchatukwa, on Monday announced that Chunga had been relieved of his duties for insubordination. His relationship with the executive at the financially-troubled side has not been healthy since the beginning of the season.

Last month Chunga quit as head coach following a marathon meeting, which lasted more than five hours, when allegations that he illegally collected US$4 000 from the gates and shared it among the players were raised. However, documents shown to The Herald indicated that Chunga was made one of the signatories to the club’s account at Ecobank.

Muchatukwa accused Chunga of duping them and running a parallel executive from Harare.

Chiredzi are currently at the basement of the log table with seven points from 13 games.

They will host Harare City at Chishamiso in their next game.