allAfrica.com: Africa: Dembare, Bosso Trips in Doubt (Page 1 of 2)

foreign currency reforms hit Zim giants Zimbabwe soccer giants Dynamos and Highlanders were last night facing a crisis after their trips to Tunisia and Sudan were thrown into doubt due to problems over foreign currency which are threatening to scupper their participation in the continental game.

Dynamos are scheduled to fly out to Tunisia today for an African Champions League date with Etoile Sportive du Sahel in Sousse with Highlanders expected to leave tomorrow for their Confederation Cup assignment against El Merreikh of Sudan in Khartoum.

But both trips hung in the balance last night amid revelations that the two giants' budgets for their African safari had ballooned following changes in the foreign currency exchange rates which are now being determined by those obtaining on the inter-bank market.

This followed changes introduced by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in the monetary policy statement announced by central bank governor Gideon Gono last week.

Under the new inter-bank trading system, authorised dealers would engage the market for the indicative foreign currency trading rate in the mornings and the willing-buyer-willing-seller principle would then determine the rate at which foreign currency would be traded during the course of the day. It is against the background of this new development on the foreign currency market that both Dynamos and Highlanders have themselves with deficits from the funds they had budgeted for the trips.

Dynamos secretary-general Tawanda Murerekwa was a worried man last night as he revealed that their trip hung in the balance.

Murerekwa said a delay in leaving for the North African country would impact negatively on the players who could be forced to rush to the match straight from the airport should Dynamos fail to leave Harare on time.

The Dynamos secretary-general had also been expected to travel to Tunisia as an advance party amid concerns of a possible hostile reception by Etoile du Sahel in Tunis.

Murerekwa, however, had to abort his journey as it became apparent that their problem had turned into a crisis. "Our trip is in doubt because the gap that has been created by the new forex dispensation has left us with a huge cover either through what we generate from the gates or by winning competitions," said Murerekwa.

Murerekwa said they had trimmed their travelling party and were now looking at sending a delegation of 30 people instead of the initial 37 and the group would require US$70 000, which translates to $14 trillion at yesterday's inter-bank rates. "Even if we sent a delegation of 25 about US$50 000 will still need $10 trillion, which is far too much compared to our revenue generation capacity where our biggest game against Etoile du Sahel netted $850 billion and our normal PSL matches are netting us $250 billion.

"So if we were to borrow that money at 400 percent interest and assume that we win the local league, the FA Cup and annual gate takings we will not be able to service a debt of $10 trillion.

"That is not the only outlay we would have because we have daily operating costs like transport, bonuses and players' salaries, so basically it is impossible to secure that money," Murerekwa said. DeMbare had, according to Murerekwa, budgeted $300 billion for their trip before changes were announced in the foreign currency trading system. "As a club we had budgeted $300 billion when we submitted our application and we had cut down on our delegation to 30 and the figure was now down to about $210 billion."

Dynamos, Murerekwa said, had since appealed to the Sports and Recreation Commission to help them raise the money in addition to appealing to the Government on their behalf.

He also said Dynamos were looking at leaving tomorrow should they fail to make the trip today in terms of their original programme.

"If the worst comes to the worst we may be forced to leave on Thursday but that would mean the team arriving in Sousse very late on Friday night and there would be very little time for the players to rest before the match."

The Dynamos spokesman also said they were worried about the Confederation of African Football sanctions that the Harare giants would face in the event that they failed to show up in Tunisia for their showdown with Etoile du Sahel.

"We understand that the fine from Caf will be wayabove what we need for this trip and as a club we will also face a lengthy ban from playing continental football."

Dynamos will only have a chance to recoup some funds for their dance with the continental game if they overcome Etoile du Sahel and reach the money-spinning mini-league phase.

In the event that they bow out from the Champions League, Dynamos will also remain in the continental game, as they would be relegated to the second-tier Confederation Cup.

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