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The Herald
Robson Sharuko
Senior Sports Editor
NORMAN MAPEZA has revealed that he was barred from entering his South African hotel room as part of a shady plot to thwart him during his short but turbulent sojourn at Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila, Supa Diski’s rookies.
The Zimbabwe coach says that contrary to the club’s claims suggesting he left them unceremoniously, their marriage effectively broke down over a number of issues, including those related to trust, in which the two parties were unable to find ground. common.
Mapeza said he found the conduct of the club’s chief executive, Seal Chokoe, who was fired as coach of the same team in January, only to be hired again as CEO in July, highly questionable and incompatible with his vision.
It was Chokoe, according to Mapeza, who ordered that the former Warriors coach and his assistant Daniel Vheremu could not use their hotel room until they presented police clearances.
The incident, the coach said, sparked the chain of events that ultimately led to the sensational breakdown of their relationship.
According to Mapeza, cracks had already emerged between the two sides, as some of the things that had been guaranteed to be available to him from the CEO, including the players, were nowhere in sight.
“The point is that we had no team, we only had a handful of Bidvest Wits players and in a conversation with the CEO, before going to South Africa, he had assured me that the right players would be available,” he said. Mapeza.
“He told me that the players, who have the experience to help us compete in such a tough league, were already available, but when we got there it quickly became clear that that was not the case.
“Of course, there were a lot of other players on the training field, the ones who come looking for an opportunity, about 40 or so, but I had made it clear that we wanted to have a competitive squad, and we had talked about the type of players. that could help us compete.
“We had a meeting with the club president (Lawrence Mulaudzi) and the CEO, the president was also concerned about the large number of players in training and wanted to know what was going on.
“I told him that the CEO had told me that there were 27 players and that we would get about five or so Orlando Pirates players, but the CEO flatly denied it and said he never told me any of that.
“That is the first time that I realized that we were addressing problems because I come from an environment where I stand for every word I say and when the person who is supposed to be their immediate boss starts discussing some of the issues. things I told you, then it’s not a good environment.
“I have to make it clear that even before I left Harare for South Africa, I had the feeling that things would not turn out as well as we expected, I don’t know why I felt that way, but that’s why. the truth and, sadly, that’s what happened. ”
Mapeza said he had not yet signed a contract because he first wanted to see the club’s status before committing.
“But the CEO wasn’t telling me the truth from the beginning, for some reason, I don’t know, maybe, as someone who once coached the team, he had his own way of doing things and he wanted to frustrate me. ” Mapeza said.
“I come from an environment where honesty is everything and I knew they were new to the league and we had to build a team and that would take a little time, but we had to be open to each other.
“Then they brought in a technical director (who is now the team’s coach) and they didn’t tell me anything about that and I had to ask what was going on because if you are a technical team, you work as a team and you need to trust each other. .
“Things were just not going according to what we expected and things came to a head when we got to the hotel, where we were staying, and we were told that they had left us an instruction that we should not enter our rooms unless we produce police clearances.
“Perhaps the CEO was sure that we had not met all the Covid-19 requirements when we arrived in South Africa, as perhaps we had jumped the border and wanted to try to use that against us.
“He did not know that we had completed each step, but you could tell that things were not what they used to be and we tried to locate him but his mobile phone was turned off.
“Since we had our clothes, and other things, in our rooms, we asked if we could take them out and we ended up putting them in (Washington) Arubi’s car and that’s when we decided to go to Johannesburg and then go home. . ”
Mapeza’s story appeared to be borne out by the fact that the club failed to field 18 players for its MTN8 quarterfinals against SuperSport United on Saturday.
TTM ended up fielding just 14 players, with 11 on the field and just three on the bench.
The drama surrounding Zambian forward Augustine Mulenga, who was featured by TTM last Thursday but ended up signing for Amazulu yesterday, also seems to highlight the confusion at the club and also support Mapeza’s story.
“I was also surprised to see my name there (at TTM),” Mulenga said at a press conference, where he was revealed as an Amazulu player, yesterday.
“I didn’t know about that ad.
“They approached me but I told them I needed time, I didn’t agree on anything with them. My focus now is on Amazulu FC.
“I left Pirates because I wanted playtime, not that I was afraid to compete.
“I didn’t want to be in a similar situation to last season.”
