Highlanders hold debt talks

BULAWAYO giants Highlanders will hold a crisis meeting with card carrying life members at the clubhouse tomorrow, a fortnight after their mid-year extraordinary general meeting (EGM).

Highlanders' chairman Peter Dube said the club was reeling in debt and tomorrow's meeting is meant to find immediate solutions.

He defended their decision to call for a meeting less than a month after the club's mid-year assembly.

"The notable difference with the EGM is that then the club was seeking authority to go ahead and institute changes and now we want to try to move the club out of a negative financial situation. We want to highlight the position of the club to members because going forward, things don't look good and drastic measures have to be taken to save this institution," said Dube.

He believes that collectively, Highlanders will come up with concrete solutions that will prevent the club from sinking.

"If drastic measures don't impact on the constitution of the club, they will be immediately implemented. We're looking at coming up with real fundraising processes that can immediately set off. If measures suggested on Saturday affect the constitution, then they will have to follow due process," Dube said.

He dismissed notions that drastic measures include selling the club.

"It will be unimaginable to think Highlanders will be taken over by somebody. Whatever is done will be done to protect the interests of the club and the community so that at the end of the day Highlanders remains a people's team," he said.

Dube thanked BancABC, which caters for the players' salaries, for their continued support and said the funding they urgently need is for other financial obligations such as winning bonuses and the day-to-day running of the club.

He noted that while other teams are bolstering their squads for the second half of the season, Highlanders, whose debt he maintained is above $500,000, cannot be involved in the mid-season transfer market because of lack of resources.

This is in contrast to Mgcini Nkolomi, chairman of the Highlanders board of directors, who indicated last week that the club's debt had ballooned close to $1 million.

Nkolomi painted a grim picture of the Bulawayo giants saying some painful decisions previously not associated with the club had to be taken to bail out the institution.

He warned that Highlanders could cease to exist if members were not serious about finding lasting solutions.

Bosso are at the top of the table with 30 points from 15 matches, but they need to reinforce their squad for them to launch a strong bid for their first title in 10 years.