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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter

KINGSTON NKHATHA has signed for Dynamos until the end of the season, with the misfiring Glamour Boys hopeful the veteran forward will provide the spark and leadership which has been lacking in their side.

The striker, who turns 33 on October 27, is returning to the domestic Premiership 11 years after he left for a stint in South Africa where he played for a number of teams, notably Kaizer Chiefs and SuperSport United.

DeMbare’s president Solomon Sanyamandwe confirmed to The Herald yesterday that the club had roped in Nkhatha.

“We have signed Kingston because we believe he has the talent and experience that we need to help us perform better,’’ said Sanyamandwe.

“It’s a statement from us that we want to do better than we have been doing because our fans deserve to see a competitive and successful Dynamos and this is just the beginning of the exercise to improve our team.

“We have to provide the coach with the right material, in terms of players, and it’s only then that we can judge if he is doing well or he isn’t doing well.

“You can’t judge or blame the coach when he doesn’t have the right players and this is an area that we have chosen to address.

“Next year we will even have more players coming to join us and we have targeted another striker, Nigel Papias, to come and be part of us.’’

Nkhatha was released by South African side SuperSport United when his contract expired this year.

He played 68 times for SuperSport United and scored 10 goals.

He also played for Kaizer Chiefs and Free State Stars in South Africa after arriving in that country in 2007, having featured for CAPS FC and Buymore on the domestic scene.

Nkhatha was prolific at Buymore, scoring 75 goals in 82 appearances, between 2003 and 2007 and he also impressed at CAPS FC with 12 goals in his 17 appearances.

Meanwhile, Valentine Ndaba is one of the players likely to be sacrificed after the Dynamos leadership managed to convince the technical team to rope in errant midfielder Denver Mukamba for another dance with the Harare giants until the end of the season.

Mukamba resumed training with the Glamour Boys last week on the orders of the club’s leadership after he had returned from a short-lived loan stint at rivals CAPS United.

But it appeared the animosity between him and the coach was still strong as Mutasa showed no interest in the player and instead drafted in Brett Amidu on loan from champion FC Platinum in the only slot they had.

Amidu is set to be at Dynamos until the end of next year.

The coach has made it clear he cannot work with the 25-year old and it had to take the intervention of the club’s new leadership who called for a meeting with the technical side at the weekend. Sources yesterday said the coach has given in to the executive’s demands to take back the midfielder whose contract will expire at the end of the year.

The sources also said the axe is now likely to fall on Ndaba, who has made little contribution in the last two seasons. Ndaba joined Dynamos two years ago from rivals Highlanders but has largely failed to live up to his reputation as a lively winger.

Twenty-year-old midfielder Tanaka Uswahwengavi is set to pave the way for Nkhatha.

“Denver is in. He will be registered before the window closes on Tuesday. The coaches are still looking at their options, but it seems Valentine could be released to create that space.

“Tanaka could also be deregistered. Both players will remain in the system, though. Tanaka is one of our juniors products and because of his age, he is likely to bounce back in the near future but Valentine’s contract will run out in December,” said the source.

Mukamba’s return to the Glamour Boys has not only unsettled the dressing room, but has also created tension between the technical department and the leadership. Mutasa kicked Mukamba out of his squad at the beginning of the year following a series of clashes with the wayward midfielder. The 25-year old found refuge at rivals CAPS United but he has apparently refused to reform even under a different environment headed by one of the domestic Premiership renowned disciplinarians, Lloyd Chitembwe.

Mutasa was not convinced by the midfielder’s condition when he returned last week and indicated he needed to look at him before he could make the decision whether to embrace him or not.

Mukamba played a few games for CAPS United before he went AWOL for two months.

“It’s only but this week that he has come back to the institution and we are yet to see much from him. Football being football, there are quite a number of elements that you look at for you to then probably think of putting one into the team.

“You look at the technical aspect, which probably most of these guys have because that’s the reason they are footballers. You look at the tactical aspect, you would have to look at the psychological part of it and physical aspect as well.

“And for one to be certified fit in terms of playing then it means you need to have all those football fitness elements. So we can talk much because we only have some days with him. Probably we will have a better picture as we go forward,” said Mutasa.

Dynamos are tomorrow expected to resume their preparations for the Battle of Zimbabwe against Highlanders in Bulawayo this weekend.

By their standards, DeMbare have largely been disappointing in the current campaign after managing a meagre 22 points from 20 matches.

They are a massive 24 points behind the leaders FC Platinum with 14 games to go.