Highlanders players demand allowances in foreign currency

A pay dispute between Highlanders players and their management is set to derail the team’s travel plans back home on Thursday. The players have vowed that they will not fly back to Zimbabwe until they get their allowances in British pounds.

While there is upheaval in the Highlanders camp, all is well in the Caps United squad. The team’s remaining 5 players are scheduled to fly back on Thursday, together with the remaining team officials. Most of the squad flew back on Tuesday night.
Highlanders’ goalkeeper Tapuwa Kapini is the only player from the team to have flown back on Tuesday. The rest of the squad refused to board the British Airways flight, demanding their allowances first before going back home.

There was drama at Heathrow airport in London, when the players refused to disembark from their team bus. The situation deteriorated into a slanging match between senior players and management over the issue of allowances.

Ezra ‘Tshisa’ Sibanda, who was working as the liaison officer for both teams said the remaining seventeen Highlanders players were booked in a hotel in East London.

‘As I speak to you now, all the players are within the confines of the hotel, loitering around. Yes there is a dispute over their allowances and they have asked for a written undertaking from the team’s management, demanding their allowances before they do anything,’ said Sibanda.

One of the organisers of the teams’ tour to the UK, Taru Simbi, said they paid both teams what was due to them. He was generally disappointed however that the issue of allowances has overshadowed all the good work they did to ensure that the trip was a success.