Bosso life members meet on mounting debt

Sport
HIGHLANDERS Football Club’s life members will start forking out a monthly fee beginning this month as part of measurers to sustain the club which is facing financial challenges.

HIGHLANDERS Football Club’s life members will start forking out a monthly fee beginning this month as part of measurers to sustain the club which is facing financial challenges.

A crisis meeting of life members resolved they would fork out a minimum of $20 each towards working capital at the club as the first measure to deal with the financial problems facing Bosso.

The meeting was held at the Highlanders club house.

The club has 2 000 life members although vice chairman, Modern Ngwenya revealed only 300 were active and likely to be the ones that will make the voluntary contribution.

Bosso officials painted a gloomy picture of the club’s finances with treasurer, Donald Ndebele saying they have been relying on short-term borrowings from club members and sympathisers, but reduced income from gate takings meant they were unable, to pay back the funds on agreed periods making it difficult for them to go back and borrow more cash.

He said they owe players and the technical department winning bonuses for three and five matches respectively, while statutory obligations were also weighing them down.

“We don’t have working capital hence we have to borrow but while in the past we would have been able to get short-term loans it is becoming difficult because low gate receipts mean we struggle to repay and again we have debt which we have to service,” Ndebele said.

While members recently rejected the notion of selling shares to raise funds, board member and finance committee chairperson Davies Sibanda implored members to accept the proposal to create a special purpose vehicle (SPV) which would own Bosso.

He said the SPV would be owned by Highlanders members who would have bought shares.

The proposal was, however, not discussed as members came up with other suggestions to keep the club afloat in the short term and Sibanda said they would be coming up with a proposal for consideration by members before a concrete decision is made. — BY SPORTS REPORTER