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Petros Kausiyo: Deputy Sports Editor

OUTGOING Warriors coach Callisto Pasuwa has heaved a huge sigh of relief after Harare businessman Wicknell Chivayo revealed the gaffer will walk away with the sleek vehicle he had been using in his official capacity as Zimbabwe coach.Pasuwa is leaving his post after nearly 20 months in charge of the Warriors technical department with the former Dynamos coach having paid the price of his team’s failure at the just-ended African Cup of Nations finals in Gabon.

The Warriors managed just a point from their 2-2 draw in the opening Group B game against Algeria before they subsequently fell to Senegal who beat them 2-0 and Tunisia who handed them a 4-2 thrashing.

Those results ensured an early exit from the tournament with Pasuwa then throwing in the towel while the ZIFA High Performance Committee, which met in Harare last Friday to review the Warriors’ showing in Gabon, recommended that the gaffer be shown the exit door together with all other national team coaches.

In the wake of the developments, ZIFA indicated through the association’s president, Philip Chiyangwa, that they also expected Pasuwa to hand in the Toyota D4D V8 Double cab vehicle among the soccer mother body’s property that he would have to relinquish when he leaves.

Pasuwa has since January last year, been using the vehicle which Chivayo bought with the businessman also extending a similar gesture to the Mighty Warriors, a month later when he purchased another vehicle for the Women’s football gaffer Shadreck Mlauzi

Chivayo’s financial muscle helped ZIFA pay part of the debt which the association owed to Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet and, more importantly, helped Zimbabwe avert another expulsion from the World Cup draw.

FIFA had already kicked out Zimbabwe from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers following ZIFA’s failure to pay the Warriors former coach Valinhos his outstanding salaries and the country was at risk of a second straight expulsion when Chivayo stepped in.

Earlier Chivayo had unveiled a $1 million sponsorship package for the game through a partnership deal he struck with Chiyangwa and it was from that package that the $180 000 paid to Saintfiet was drawn.

Chivayo also revealed at the time that he felt that, while it was important to take care of the Belgian’s interests and pay whatever he was owed by ZIFA, it was also key for them to ensure that Pasuwa was well catered for and splashed $69 000 to purchase the vehicle.

Pasuwa, however, seemed to be on the verge of losing the vehicle together with his job as Warriors gaffer.

But Chivayo stepped in yesterday to clarify the status of the vehicle which had appeared to be part of the perks for a national coach and which Pasuwa’s successor was set to benefit from.

“As far as I am concerned the vehicle that I bought is for Pasuwa. I bought the vehicle as a gesture to thank him for being so patriotic to the country, for working so hard under difficult conditions and without pay to produce results with the Warriors.

“The vehicle rightfully and lawfully belongs to him and there is no relationship whatsoever between the deal for the vehicle and ZIFA so whether he is still national coach or not, he gets to keep that vehicle . . . it was not a sponsorship to ZIFA,’’ Chivayo said.

The move by the Harare businessman and ZIFA benefactor is set to, at least, end part of the puzzle that had engulfed the package that Pasuwa will take after his departure from the Warriors dressing room.

Meanwhile, Pasuwa is expected to lead members of the Warriors technical crew to the National Sports Stadium on Saturday morning for a hearing that will be conducted by the Sports Commission as part of the supreme sports body’s probe into events surrounding the senior team’s boycott of a send-off dinner that had been arranged for them by the Government ahead of their departure for the Nations Cup finals in Gabon.

The Warriors, who apparently had hit a deadlock in their negotiations with ZIFA over participation fees and bonuses, could have landed themselves into trouble after they decided not to show up for a function that was to be officiated by then Acting President Emmerson Mnangagwa at a local hotel.

Mnangagwa had helped mobilise resources to the tune of $1 million for the team after ZIFA had sent a last minute SOS to Government.

But with the Warriors up in arms against the authorities at ZIFA, the players did not show up for the dinner despite spirited attempts by their employers to persuade them to respect the Vice President, who was the Guest of Honour.

The team also refused to board the plane to Cameroon hours later where ZIFA had planned a short camp en-route to Gabon.

Government, through the Sports Commission, last week instituted a three-member committee led by veteran sports administrator Titus Zvomuya to investigate the source of the problems.

Former National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe president Joseph Mungwari and ex-Zimbabwe Rugby Union boss John Falkenberg are the other members of the committee.

Sports Commission acting director-general Joseph Muchechetere said the committee would make recommendations afterwards “so that this will not happen again in Sport and Recreation in general and in particular football”.

“The team’s boycott of the send-off dinner also affected the general preparations and travel of the Warriors. These challenges naturally tarnished the image of the country, ZIFA and it was a complete embarrassment to the sponsors,’’ Muchechetere said.