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Sports Reporter
THE Football Union of Zimbabwe has blasted Shabanie Mine Football Club and urged the PSL and Zifa to look into the welfare of players at the club as a matter of urgency. “The living conditions of the players are very pathetic. We visited them yesterday and some of the players are living in a toilet and there is no difference with those who are in a prison cell,” fumed Paul Gundani, the FUZ secretary-general.

Shabanie Mine players this week went on strike demanding their signing-on fees and winning bonuses.
Their coach John Phiri, who has transformed the team into a competitive outfit,  is still to pen a contract, 10 games into the season.
FUZ president Desmond Maringwa also took a swipe at Shabanie for subjecting players to inhumane conditions.

“They are living in a disused clinic which still has its door labelled Sister-In-Charge. They are using sheets which were used by patients and the way their food is prepared is not hygienic.

“If the club can no longer manage to run the affairs of the club the best thing is to give the team to local businesspeople who are interested. The players have not received salaries since January. They are owed their bonuses and we are very concerned,” he said.

Shabanie has some of the best facilities for players in the country. In a bid to raise funds for the mine, some of the facilities have been leased out to the Midlands State University and also to local companies and individuals in the mining town.

This has resulted in four players sharing a room, a development which has invited the ire of FUZ.
“Most of the players are married and to be honest their wives can’t visit them. There is no privacy and I am still baffled how Zifa managed to license them. I have been trying to get hold of their secretary Shoko (Pithius) and he is not answering my calls.

“Professionalism is lacking at the club and it needs urgent attention. Players are professionals and must not be treated like convicts. My heart is bleeding at the moment due to the situation at Shabanie and we are not going to keep quiet about it,” said Gundani, a former Warriors player for the famous “Dream Team”.

Samson “Sam Dread” Gondwe, a Shabanie board member, has been behind the success of the club, providing funding at a crucial time.
Meanwhile, FUZ has scored a first by registering  players for a pension fund which is going to be launched soon at a date to be advised.

“The idea is to have players get something when they retire and we have a strategy of forcing them to pay five percent of their basic salary which is $25 a month. Our next port of call will be their employers (the clubs).

“After all the Premiership teams, we will target all the Division One clubs and we also need  everyone to understand that though we started this as a football union, all the sporting disciplines are welcome to join the fund which has also been joined by cricketers,” said Gundani.

Defending champions Dynamos and Harare City have already started paying.
On Wednesday, a number of Shabanie Mine and FC Platinum players joined the pension scheme. Yesterday, the FUZ team was in Bulawayo where they were scheduled to meet players from Bantu Rovers, Chicken Inn, and Highlanders.