Highlanders sense sinister motive as players strike
Bonte Seepi | Wednesday February 17, 2016 15:03
Monyeki said since their sponsor, Botswana Railways (BR) has told them that there is no money, they now rely on grants from the Premiership.
“I think there is more to this because we normally pay our players as late as the 15th, but they never strike. There are allegations that they want the chairman, Bontogile Gabotale to step down. People think the management has blocked the money, but our sponsors made it clear that there is no money. We have not even received the Premiership grants,” said Monyeki.
Meanwhile, Monyeki expressed concern saying he believes there is a third hand at play that is influencing players to boycott training.
He said last week Tuesday they approached players in a bid to explain the situation, but only a few turned up. However, he said the chairman has since approached the BR director of finance and they are still waiting for a response. “The situation should go back to normal before end of this week or next week, otherwise we will not be able to survive relegation,” he said late last week. Asked about allegations that players suspect the management misused funds from BR, he said they have not received any official report. He said what they only know is that players want their payments.
“We are very transparent on financial issues. There is a time when supporters demanded that we forward the returns from every match. From then we always submitted everything and made every transaction transparent. We provide all the financial statements,” he said.
He added that at times they have to fork out money from their pockets in order to make sure the boys honour the fixture. “We are even using our cars and fuel to run the business of the team,” he said.