Pasuwa refuses to resign, waiting for Chiyangwa to fire him

Warriors coach, Kalisto Pasuwa has declined to leave his post on his own accord and will wait for the football governing body to fire him instead.

Zifa president Philip Chiyangwa on Sunday said Pasuwa should resign instead of waiting to be fired, but the former Warriors midfielder has said he will not jump, but will have to be pushed out.

Pasuwa has a year left on his contract and if he resigns, he loses out on 12 months' salary, whereas if Zifa push him out, they will have to compensate him for the remainder of his contract.

His manager, Gibson Mahachi yesterday said the coach would not resign and implored Zifa to complete a process they started when the high performance committee (HPC) interviewed Pasuwa and recommended to Zifa that he be relieved of his duties.

"Zifa has the right to decide whether to retain the coach or move on and appoint a new coach based on the recommendations of the HPC. It is their right to decide his future," he said.

"He will not resign. Pasuwa signed a two-year renewable contract and the target was for him to qualify Zimbabwe to the Afcon [Africa Cup of Nations], which he did. And he has submitted his report to the HPC, and Zifa simply has to decide the way forward based on the recommendations of the HPC. If they want to move on with a new coach, they should just announce the position and pay him what they owe. I don't understand why a simple issue like this is being complicated here. Due process should just be allowed to take its course. Why then should he resign?"

Pasuwa, who is on a $7 000 per month contract, last received his salary in May last year and is owed seven months' salary, amounting to $49 000.

If Zifa decides to dismiss him, they also have to pay him for the remaining 12 months of his contract, which translates to a further $84 000.

Probably in a bid to evade the $84 000 payment, Zifa has demanded that the coach tender his resignation. If the former Dynamos coach is to be dismissed, Zifa would have to pay him $133 000.

Pasuwa presided over Zimbabwe's qualification to the 2017 Afcon finals, becoming the third coach to manage that feat after Sunday Chidzambwa and Charles Mhlauri in 2004 and 2006, respectively.

However, following the Warriors' failure to qualify for the quarter-finals of the tournament, the HPC recommended that the coach be relieved of his duties.

Chiyangwa told NewsDaySport at the weekend that the association would follow the recommendations of the HPC.

He said Zifa could not go against what the HPC recommended, but further said he did not want to be burdened by going through a lot of paper work.

He said he expected Pasuwa to resign like what other coaches who failed at the Afcon finals
did.

Under Pasuwa's watch, Zimbabwe picked just one point from their Group B assignments after recording a draw against Algeria.

They lost the other two matches to Senegal and Tunisia to bow out of the tournament at the first hurdle.

Pasuwa had gone to the Afcon finals with a self-set target of reaching the quarter-finals, but he argued that he had not been afforded adequate preparation when he was interviewed by the HPC.

The HPC is composed of Zifa vice-president Omega Sibanda, the association's technical director Taurai Mangwiro, coaches Sunday Chidzambwa, Innocent Chogugudza, Moses Chunga and Rahman Gumbo as well as former referee Masimba Chihowa.