Silver Strikers have blamed shortage of forex following the sudden departure of their coach Pieter de Jongh. In a bizarre circumstance, de Jongh flew out of the country for Kenya after the expiry of his work permit on Friday.
This happened on the eve of yesterday’s first leg of the Airtel Top 8 quarterfinal between Silver and Mighty Mukuru Wanderers at Bingu National Stadium.
Silver Spokesperson Willard Chakanika said efforts to renew de Jongh’s work permit, which expired on Friday, proved futile yesterday due to shortage of forex in the country.
“We applied for the renewal of his work permit but we were not successful, so he decided to travel to Kenya until we sort out the matter,” Chakanika said.
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However, Chakanika insisted that the Dutchman, who has been under pressure following the team’s poor results, has not been fired.
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Details indicate the work permit fee is pegged at $500 (about K2.5 million) for two years. Chakanika said they asked the Dutchman to process a temporary work permit but he refused.
However, the Dutchman was not readily available for his comment before his departure. Assistant coaches Peter Mgangira and Etison Kadenge Mwafulirwa were in charge of the team yesterday.
Mwafulirwa was cleared to return to Silver after serving a seven[1]week suspension. Sports analyst Parry Chinyama said there should be other reasons behind his departure.
“Let us wait as events keep unfolding. There might be more to this matter,” Chinyama said.
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The Dutchman joined Silver on a two-year contract after replacing Zambian Daniel Kabwe.
He was given a target of winning the TNM Super League title and a trophy in his first season.
However, they are already out of the FDH Bank Cup.
They are still in contention for the TNM Super League title as they are fourth on the log table with 34 points from 21 matches, four points behind leaders FCB Nyasa Big Bullets and second-placed Wanderers.
