The Sunday News
Mandla Ncube, Sports Reporter
AJAX Hotspurs, a Zifa Southern Region Division One side is discovering that nurturing one of Zimbabwe most exciting talents in a generation is not rewarding at all. Divine Lunga was in the books of Mpopoma’s Ajax from the age of 11 until 17, according to accounts by the Ajax Hotspurs founding director, Sphambaniso Dube.
However, three seasons down the line they are yet to receive player solidarity fees (development) from the player’s switch from local PSL side Chicken Inn to Lamontville Golden Arrows of South Africa. Hotspurs had hoped that Zifa would step in and help the club in pursuing the fees but the mother body has remained mum to the series of letters from the club. “Our mother body should act and help its affiliates. I have written to them several times and they don’t even bother to respond,” revealed Dube.
Under Fifa regulations, a solidarity payment is up to five percent of a transfer fee and is to be divided proportionally among clubs involved in a player’s training and education during the seasons encompassing his 12th and 23rd birthdays. Lunga has captured imagination, the major one being containing Liverpool and Pharaohs superstar Mohamed Salah in the Africa Cup of Nations back in 2019 and has continued to impress with Golden Arrows to such an extent that he is rumoured to have got the attention of Mamelodi Sundowns.
Zifa communications and competitions manager, Xolisani Gwesela said Ajax should not try to solve the matter using the media.
“This is an internal matter. We deal with our members internally and if Ajax Hotspurs are affiliated to us and they have their issues they know the internal mechanisms and the channels to approach us not through the press,” Gwesela said.
