Zimpapers Logo

Mduduzi Mathuthu Chronicle Editor
PETER Dube would have been praying that Highlanders can avoid defeat away to Caps United yesterday, which would all but end their interest in the 2014 Premier Soccer League title race.
But a week after sacking Kelvin Kaindu and thrusting his assistant, Mark Mathe, in the hot seat, the Highlanders chairman and his executive find themselves in a deeper hole.

In vogue with their recent woeful form, Highlanders’ crushing 4-0 defeat yesterday will refocus the fans’ attention back on Dube’s executive, which has not covered itself in glory over the handling of the Kaindu affair.

Under Kaindu, I always thought Highlanders would not win the league but would do enough to finish fourth — guaranteeing them a spot in the Mbada Diamonds Cup which this year will only involve the top four.

The Zambian coach had also done well to get his very average Highlanders team to the semi-finals of the Chibuku Trophy, in which they meet Harare City for a place in the final.

In essence, at the time Highlanders wielded the axe on Kaindu — albeit with a fair bit of pressure from a section of the fans — Highlanders were realistically in the semi-finals of two domestic cups.

But yesterday’s defeat raises honest questions about Highlanders’ chances of holding onto fourth, with form-side FC Platinum, Hwange and Chicken Inn all now within striking distance with five matches to play.

And with Highlanders’ relegation form in the second half of this season, fans are rightly fearful that the Chibuku Trophy will also slip from their fingers.

In short, Highlanders is now officially a club in crisis. The club is mortally wounded and it is neither responsible nor fair to delay the post mortem a day longer.

I am not blind to the fact that Kaindu is the biggest villain of this crisis. He has had three seasons to win the title but failed in all three attempts, in which he appeared simply incapable of ending Dynamos’ astonishing stranglehold on the league. Only he can say if the blame lay elsewhere, but the league table does not lie.

But once Highlanders took the decision to end Kaindu’s reign, it is totally bewildering that club bosses then chose to risk everything by elevating his number two, who was virtually unknown until he surfaced at Highlanders. In the first place, the fact that Mathe was not Kaindu’s choice, but was picked by the executive, should raise the eyebrows of any Highlanders supporter.

The question executive chairman Dube and those behind the decision to sack Kaindu should answer is this: Is Mark Mathe better than Kelvin Kaindu? If their answer is “No”, then what the hell were they doing removing Kaindu only to replace him with someone who is WORSE?

This debacle shows an executive without a plan. If they had one, a decision to force Kaindu out would only have been taken after a competent and experienced replacement had been identified and was ready to step in. If Highlanders had nothing to fight for, it would be of no consequence if Mathe was allowed to help them limp to the finish line. But there are two huge domestic trophies to fight for which have serious financial and other implications for the club. At Highlanders, winning trophies is not a tradable expectation.

Whose brilliant idea was Mark Mathe? This is a question all Highlanders fans are asking this morning, and it is not a dismissible enquiry. Fans have an expectation that the executive they put in office is looking after their interests, but recent decisions and actions have everyone worried.
The club is due to hold its elective AGM in February next year.

Should Highlanders finish this season trophyless, it will become a strategic necessity that the board meets and bring that AGM forward so that decisions for the 2015 campaign are taken early, especially fixing the shambolic coaching set-up. Dube and his entire executive, whose reign has coincided with unprecedented sponsorship for the club, notably by BancABC, cannot reasonably expect a better fate than Kaindu’s.