News / National
Dembare splash US$1,000 on sangoma
16 Jul 2024 at 12:26hrs | Views
DYNAMOS splashed US$1 000 to pay a sangoma ahead of their blockbuster league championship showdown against their biggest rivals Highlanders at Rufaro on Sunday.
The Glamour Boys bizarrely chose to prioritise the payment of the sangoma despite their camp reeling from a rebellion by their players who had downed tools pressing for payment of their outstanding dues.
While there was resistance, in the initial stages within the club's leadership, regarding the payment to the sangoma, given the final challenges the club were facing, pressure was exerted to ensure that the cash payment was made.
"Given the issues that were happening with the boys (the players), who were boycotting training, there was a feeling that such a payment was not the right thing to do for the club at the moment," said the sources.
"However, the owners of the club said that this was a tradition at Dynamos and it was not going to be changed simply because the players were boycotting training.
"They said these player boycotts have been happening as long as they can remember and they come and go and this cannot be used as an excuse to stop payments to the sangoma.
"It was like they were saying that paying the sangoma was more important, in terms of getting the result which we wanted from the game against Highlanders, than the training itself.
"The message was like as long as we satisfied the sangoma then we did not need to worry about the issues that had happened at training because the club would still be in a position to compete against Highlanders.
"Of course, it didn't happen like that because we lost that game 2-0 and the performance of the boys showed that they had been affected by the issues which had happened on the training field.
"We don't know what the sangoma said about the result because we never get to meet him given he is only known to a few people at the club."
The sources added:
"The sangoma got his dues and, maybe, if you were going to ask him how did we end up losing he will say that without his intervention, we were going to lose maybe 5-0, I don't know.
"But what we cannot hide is the fact that we are concentrating on things which don't matter in this age and era when other clubs, of our magnitude, are investing in sports science.
"We are still stuck in the old ways of doing business instead of asking ourselves why we have not won the league in 10 years if the so-called powers of these sangomas really work.
"It's a reflection of where we are today as a club and maybe we deserve the result that we got on Sunday."
Interestingly, the sangoma is now demanding another US$2 000 to come and cleanse the Dynamos house.
"The sangoma is saying that team yedu yakasungwa and he needs to come and cleanse our house and that will cost us US$2 000 if we want him to do a perfect job.
"I think that money will be paid because they are saying this is how we do our business at our club."
If the sangoma has been paid for every game this season it means that he has pocketed a cool US$18 000, if he was getting the same payment for each game.
The Glamour Boys have played 18 games this season and, in the game against Bosso, despite the US$1 000 investment into the sangoma, they failed to score a goal, as the home team at Rufaro this year, for only the second time. The other time they failed to score a goal, as the home team at Rufaro this season, was during the goalless draw against Bulawayo Chiefs in April.
For all the investment into the sangoma, Dynamos have scored the least number of goals, among the top six clubs, with their 16 goals a lower total than the 18 which newboys Bikita Minerals have scored.
Even TelOne, who have scored 19 goals, have a better strike force than Dynamos, so far this season.
The highest paid player at Dynamos gets US$1 800 a month and the sangoma earned more than half that amount in just one game on Sunday.
Dynamos strongman, Bernard Marriot, is paid a monthly salary of US$1 090, which includes US$90 DStv subscription, and also pockets some rich pickings from the club's other revenue streams.
Marriot's net monthly salary is a tax-free US$1 000 payment but he also gets a US90 payment, every month, to ensure his DStv subscription is fully paid for.
The Glamour Boys bizarrely chose to prioritise the payment of the sangoma despite their camp reeling from a rebellion by their players who had downed tools pressing for payment of their outstanding dues.
While there was resistance, in the initial stages within the club's leadership, regarding the payment to the sangoma, given the final challenges the club were facing, pressure was exerted to ensure that the cash payment was made.
"Given the issues that were happening with the boys (the players), who were boycotting training, there was a feeling that such a payment was not the right thing to do for the club at the moment," said the sources.
"However, the owners of the club said that this was a tradition at Dynamos and it was not going to be changed simply because the players were boycotting training.
"They said these player boycotts have been happening as long as they can remember and they come and go and this cannot be used as an excuse to stop payments to the sangoma.
"It was like they were saying that paying the sangoma was more important, in terms of getting the result which we wanted from the game against Highlanders, than the training itself.
"The message was like as long as we satisfied the sangoma then we did not need to worry about the issues that had happened at training because the club would still be in a position to compete against Highlanders.
"Of course, it didn't happen like that because we lost that game 2-0 and the performance of the boys showed that they had been affected by the issues which had happened on the training field.
"We don't know what the sangoma said about the result because we never get to meet him given he is only known to a few people at the club."
The sources added:
"The sangoma got his dues and, maybe, if you were going to ask him how did we end up losing he will say that without his intervention, we were going to lose maybe 5-0, I don't know.
"We are still stuck in the old ways of doing business instead of asking ourselves why we have not won the league in 10 years if the so-called powers of these sangomas really work.
"It's a reflection of where we are today as a club and maybe we deserve the result that we got on Sunday."
Interestingly, the sangoma is now demanding another US$2 000 to come and cleanse the Dynamos house.
"The sangoma is saying that team yedu yakasungwa and he needs to come and cleanse our house and that will cost us US$2 000 if we want him to do a perfect job.
"I think that money will be paid because they are saying this is how we do our business at our club."
If the sangoma has been paid for every game this season it means that he has pocketed a cool US$18 000, if he was getting the same payment for each game.
The Glamour Boys have played 18 games this season and, in the game against Bosso, despite the US$1 000 investment into the sangoma, they failed to score a goal, as the home team at Rufaro this year, for only the second time. The other time they failed to score a goal, as the home team at Rufaro this season, was during the goalless draw against Bulawayo Chiefs in April.
For all the investment into the sangoma, Dynamos have scored the least number of goals, among the top six clubs, with their 16 goals a lower total than the 18 which newboys Bikita Minerals have scored.
Even TelOne, who have scored 19 goals, have a better strike force than Dynamos, so far this season.
The highest paid player at Dynamos gets US$1 800 a month and the sangoma earned more than half that amount in just one game on Sunday.
Dynamos strongman, Bernard Marriot, is paid a monthly salary of US$1 090, which includes US$90 DStv subscription, and also pockets some rich pickings from the club's other revenue streams.
Marriot's net monthly salary is a tax-free US$1 000 payment but he also gets a US90 payment, every month, to ensure his DStv subscription is fully paid for.
Source - H-Metro
