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Callisto Pasuwa

Petros Kausiyo Harare Bureau
ZIFA and the Warriors are headed for a collision that could derail the start of the senior team’s camp for the African Nations Championships amid revelations that there are disagreements over bonuses, camping facilities and allowances between the broke associtiation and their flagship team. The Warriors had initially been pencilled to start training on Monday but that camp was shelved until tomorrow with coach Callisto Pasuwa earlier this week voicing his concern about the slow pace of preparations.

Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze was due to meet with Pasuwa yesterday to fine tune the programme before the players troop into camp tomorrow amid revelations that the association wanted the Warriors to go to the sub-standard Zifa Village while the technical crew prefer teh ambience of their usual camping home – Daisy Lodge in Greendale.

sources close to the goings-on at Zifa revealed that there were a number of hiccups that could hinder the smooth start of the training camp in which the Warriors need to make the most out of the remaining month before they depart for the Chan tournament in Rwanda.

The sources indicated that “the hiccups are largely because there is no money in the Zifa coffers yet as the new leadership is still trying to raise funding.

“There are a number of disagreements at the moment between the squad and Zifa which must be ironed out. There was hope that this year’s camp would be an improvement on what happened during Ian Gorowa’s time for the 2014 tournament when the coach ended up having to buy food for the players and there were fights over allowances and bonuses.

“But it seems there is already a problem in that the qualifying bonus has not been paid and might not be paid after all.

“There is also a plan to cut down on the players’ daily allowances on what they will get while they are in camp in Harare and even when they will be in Rwanda compared to the last tournament and all this could affect morale if the housekeeping issues are not sorted out well before he Chan competition starts,’’ the sources said.

The fourth edition of the Chan tournament is expected to run in Rwanda from January 16 to February 7.

The Warriors who are in Group D together with perennial rivals Zambia, West Africans Mali and East African football kings Uganda, will be based in the border town of Gisenyi.

Before they can focus on their Group assignments, the Warriors would have to compensate for time they have already lost. Neither Pasuwa nor Mashingaidze could be reached for comment last night on the contents of their meeting.

It has emerged that Zifa are not fully utiliSing team manager Shariff Mussa despite the seasoned administrator having gone to Rwanda for the Chan draw during which he also joined representatives of participating teams and the Confederation of African Football’s inspection team to assess the venues of the tournament.

There are genuine fears, however, that Mussa, who has also often used personal resources to bail out Zifa, might be frustrated out of the system before the Chan competition where Zimbabwe will begin their campaign with a clash against old enemies Zambia, bursts into life.

“Shariff might have been in and out of the country for his business but it also seems that the system at Zifa is not keen to utilise and tap into what he saw and experienced in Rwanda and generally his experience with such competitions as the team manager over the years. It is appears he is just being frustrated out of the system although it is not yet clear what the reasons could be and as result of the way things are at the moment he has not been at the forefront of co-coordinating the upcoming camp by negotiating with those who own such faculties like the gym and the training fields,’’ the sources said.