The Sunday News
HIGHLANDERS Football Club will extend its begging bowl to supporters this afternoon at Barbourfields Stadium as they seek to shore up their finances.
Chief executive officer Ndumiso Gumede said people can drop in cash into bins that would be placed next to the 16 gates, which would be open today for the clash against Triangle.
He said the move comes following a resolution at the club’s mid-year annual general meeting at which members urged the club to seek donations during matches as a way of raising funds.
“We will open 16 gates on Sunday (today) and next to them there will be bins which will be used to collect the donations. Obviously there is the issue of accountability of the funds and we hope to put in place some modalities that we can implement to allay fears the money might not reach the club’s coffers,’’ said Gumede on Friday.
“The treasurer, Donald Ndebele is looking at a system that will give our supporters confidence the cash will reach the office and hopefully donate more and without any fears.”
The veteran administrator said the club had an Ecocash account (70662) that can be used by people outside Bulawayo and the country to send in money to the club, adding that members and supporters could use the biller code to also pay membership fees.
“Our supporters in Victoria Falls recently used that facility (Ecocash) to send in their membership fees and we sent them the new plastic membership cards which we are now issuing out. The good thing about Ecocash is that people from all over the world can use it to donate to the club.
“We have previously had challenges where our members fail to remit their fees to the club even when they are within the country but outside Bulawayo but I am glad we have managed to embrace technology and with it even someone in the United States, United Kingdom or Australia can now update their membership,” said Gumede.
Bosso’s precarious financial position came to the fore when players went on industrial action protesting over the late payments of winning bonuses in late May. The winning bonuses for away matches are pegged at $170 per player and $140 for home games.
