- Club acknowledges their debt to Mafu, thought amicable position was reached to settle debt
- Mafu changed his mind after a ‘fruitful meeting’, said he doesn’t trust Chiefs
- Mafu to report Chiefs to FIFA
BONGANI MALUNGA
Mochudi Centre Chiefs are effectively on the hunt for a new head coach following their recent spat with Zimbabwean coach Bongani Mafu over unpaid wages from the previous season. The Zimbabwean coach has not yet taken charge of the club since last season, he had demanded to be paid before returning to the club.
Reports indicate that Mafu has been unpaid since January and most times he struggled but eventually convinced other senior players not to boycott training and matchdays last season as they were unpaid as well.
Gazette Sport has established that Mafu was in Botswana last week and he held talks with Chiefs’ management, he was reportedly accompanied by a Zimbabwean Football Association (ZIFA) official.
Chiefs thought they had held a fruitful meeting with an amicable position reached to settle the debt, the meeting was sealed with a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ to process Mafu’s payment in due time. However, the Kgatleng giants were in for a shock as they learned that Mafu had decided to forward the matter to FIFA.
“We believe Mafu will not be coming back. We thought we had reached an agreement with him last week, we agreed to settle the payment and informed him of our current financial problems. When he returned to Zimbabwe he informed us that he doesn’t trust us, he also told us that he is escalating the matter to FIFA. We do not understand why he has taken that decision despite our talks, if we had shunned him then it would be understandable,” stated Chiefs’ General Manager Clifford Mogomotsi.
“He is not the only one, we also owe some of our players but they understand our situation and they are willing to wait until we sort everything out,” Mogomotsi added.
Mogomotsi also stated that first team duties are under the care of long serving technical team member Innocent Morapedi and club legend Pontsho Moloi, he also confirmed that they are actively seeking a long term replacements for Mafu. “Its now official, we are searching for a new coach but in the meantime Morapedi and Pontsho will be in temporary charge of the team,” Mogomotsi concluded.
Mafu joined Chiefs in August last season on a two year deal, he guided the club to seventh place last season, which was their worst finish in recent years.