At the centre of the storm are children of six late founder members who have ganged up and are demanding that they be recognised as owners of the club and want a share of the proceeds from the club which they say belongs to their late fathers.
According to documents which StandardSport has seen, those making the demands are children of the late Simon Machaya, Alois Mesikano, Patrick Dzvene, Danny Thomas, Josiah Akende, and Obediah Sarupinda, the first coach and captain of Dynamos.
Also roped into the battle are relatives of Jairos Banda who want Banda to receive his “pension” while he is still alive.
According to the documents, the group is led by Simon Machaya Junior, son of the late Simon Machaya, the first secretary of the club. They want the ownership issue resolved before or on the day of the Dynamos Annual General Meeting which is supposed to be held before the start of the season on March 5.
The Dynamos constitution is clear, that the club’s ownership lies in the hands of the players who in 1963 came together to form what is now widely recognised as the biggest football club in Zimbabwe.
The Machaya group is saying since their late fathers are part of the owners of the club, their children should take their fathers’ place in the current set up of the club and receive the benefits, just like the remaining founding fathers are doing.
They also want seats on the board of trustees that is being led by Richard Chiminya and have a say in the running of the club. The board of trustees is the supreme decision-making body of Dynamos and is made up of the remaining founding fathers: Chiminya, Benard Lusengo Marriot, Freddy Mkwesha and Jairos Banda, while former captain Sunday Chidzambwa has also been incorporated.According to information at hand, Machaya’s group has approached a prominent Harare businessman with links to Dynamos for funding should their move require legal action.The businessman (Ignatius Pamire) confirmed Machaya had been to his offices seeking funding to launch a legal battle for the control of Dynamos. The businessman, however, could not be drawn into revealing whether he has agreed or not to fund the initiative.
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Chiminya, however, laughed off the demands saying the group was misled into believing that the board of trustees were getting something from the club. He said the trustees were just ensuring the smooth running of DeMbare and were receiving nothing apart from a nominal fee for attending board meetings.
He said if at all they were getting anything it was for the job they were doing, not because they were founder members.
He said the Dynamos constitution did not provide that children of late founder members were supposed to take over from their fathers.Chiminya said contrary to popular belief, Dynamos did not have much money adding that much of the money was being spent on the day-to-day running of the club as well as the welfare of the players.
However, a source at the club said the founder members were receiving monthly salaries introduced by the Farai Munetsi’s executive as well as a share of part of the proceeds from gate takings.
