$4,000 needed to get Tshiki back to Bosso

NJABULO "Tshiki" Ncube's umpteenth romance with Highlanders might fall through unless the Bulawayo giants source money to fund his return.

Ncube first played for Highlanders as a junior before crossing over to Railstars. He returned in 2011 under Mkhuphali Masuku helping the club to lift the Independence Cup before being booted out during the second transfer window.

He came back last season where again he was instrumental in helping the Bulawayo giants to their first ever major cup triumph, the Mbada Diamonds Cup.

He left Bosso early this season after signing for FC Platinum before returning to cause a bit of confusion at Bosso by demanding that they pay him before he puts pen to paper when he was already in the books of the miners.

A day after his meeting with Highlanders, Bosso received about $100,000 for signing on fees from BancABC.
But those in the know always insisted that he would sweet-talk the coaches and executive to pave way for his return to the club as a "Prodigal Son".

His current paymasters, FC Platinum, are reportedly willing to release the stocky forward to any club who can pay at least half of what they paid him as his signing on fee back in January.

The cash-rich Zvishavane-based side paid Ncube $8,000 and need $4,000 for them to release the nomadic striker whom the Highlanders coaches are waiting for with keen interest.

"If we get someone who can give us that kind of money then we will gladly have our man here but at the moment we don't have that kind of money and remember the player will also want a signing on fee on top of the $4,000," said Bosso's chief executive officer, Ndumiso Gumede.

He, however, said technically, the player is the one who should extricate himself from the mess he finds himself in because "Highlanders never took any portion of the $8,000".

Gumede said they would continue negotiating with the platinum miners to try and reach a compromise although FC Platinum, according to the Bosso head of secretariat, want a commitment from them.

"The coaches told us clearly that Njabulo was their man, he was here yesterday (Wednesday) and told us that part of the loans that he got from FC Platinum have since been paid back," he said.

Bosso chief executive officer was confident that other than Njabulo, they would be able to get their other targets, which up to now are yet to be named though it is understood there is a player from Twalumba FC of Harare who looks a certainty for the leaky right back position.

Early this month, Gumede told this publication that they had done the negotiations with the players, whom he said were free agents, and all that was left was for the players to show their commitment to join Highlanders.

Highlanders are desperate for a natural rightback, a leftback and a gunman but with Charles Sibanda scoring like nobody's business, the long delay in the arrival of Ncube might end up being inconsequential.

Tshiki might turn out to be an unnecessary expense for Highlanders because he cannot be trusted to stay longer given his propensity to look for greener pastures.

Other than Highlanders, Ncube has been in the books of Railstars, Motor Action and other Botswana clubs.