BY MICHAEL KARIATI
FORMER Dynamos goalkeeper and 1982 Castle Soccer Star of the Year, Japhet Mparutsa has added his voice on the current ownership squabbles at the Harare giants by telling the club’s fellow former players that they have no stake at the club.
This comes after a group of former players elected a board of trustees led by Ernest Kamba to run the club on their behalf.
The board which also includes Sunday Chidzambwa, Cremio Mapfumo, Ignatius Kapfunde, Clayton Munemo, Moses Chunga, Eric Aisam, Labani Kandi, David George and Makwinji Soma-Phiri, was chosen to take over from the one led by Benard Marriot.
But Mparutsa believes there is no way a player who came after the 1963 founders can claim ownership of the club.
He says according to the club’s constitution only the founder members like Simon Machaya and Sam Dauya and the founding players like Obediah Sarupinda, Josia Akende, Jairos Banda, Benard Marriot, and others, are the true owners of Dynamos Football Club.
Mparutsa who now lives in the United Kingdom says the group of former players, who have been pushing to take over as owners of the club do not qualify for Dembare ownership despite being misled into thinking or believing so.
“People are missing the point. The constitution talks about the players of those 1963 days not those who would come afterwards,” says Mparutsa.
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“How can players who joined Dynamos from other clubs and those who left Dynamos for other teams claim ownership of this team simply because they at one time wore the famous blue jersey,” questioned Mparutsa, adding that “That is ridiculous.”
He says if there were people who should benefit financially from Dynamos, then it is the families of the founder members who sacrificed a lot in the formation and progress of the team and not former players who were paid for their services for the period they featured for Dembare.
Marriot, who was among the first group of players in 1963 insists he is the rightful owner of the club and has been leading Dynamos since the death of Richard Chiminya in 2012.
Mparutsa, says even though he won league championships and trophies with Dynamos, he is not and cannot claim to be one of the club owners.
“There were players who came at Dynamos and played one or two games. Does that automatically make them owners of the club? I for one went to Black Rhinos, Moses Chunga went to Eendracht Aalst in Belgium and Ernest Kamba played for Hardware Stars in Malawi. Are we owners? No. We all joined Dynamos when it was there and we left it where it was. We were employees of Dynamos. That is all,” said Mparutsa.
In 1982, Mparutsa was ranked among the top five goalkeepers on the continent alongside legendary goal minders such as Badau Zaki of Morocco, Cheikh Seck of Senegal and the Cameroonian pair of Thomas Nkono and Joseph Antoine Bell.
Mparutsa also played for Black Rhinos and was in the famous Chipembere side that won the 1984 league championship alongside Stanley Ndunduma, Stix Mtizwa, Jimmy Mbewe, Simon Mugabe, Lovemore, Chikunha, Hamid Dhana, William Chikauro, Eddie Matsika, and David Mukahanana.
Mparutsa left Dynamos along with coach Shepard Murape and other fellow players such as Mugabe, Dhana, Chikunha, Matsika, and Mukahanana.
