Ishmael Dadson is said to have jetted into the country in
February 2020, shortly before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country, to undergo
trials at Shabanie Mine FC.
B-Metro Sport was made aware of the dire situation that the
Ghanaian player is faced with by an informant who is based in the mining town,
who said the footballer has turned to begging to survive.
“The boy is a graduate of an academy in Ghana called the
Volta International Sports Academy (VISA) and he arrived together with another
player, a goalkeeper, for trials but Shabanie Mine FC showed interest in
Dadson. The other player went back home after failing to impress the Shabanie
Mine FC guys,” said the informant.
B Metro was shown an invitation letter signed by a Shabanie
Mine FC official named Kudakwashe Gwatirisa, which stated that the trials
should have started on 28 January 2020.
The foreign players are said to have arrived in Zvishavane
a few days later. “The situation that the player finds himself in is not good
at all. He stays at the club house and relies on well-wishers to give him food
and toiletries. I understand that his passport was confiscated by immigration
officials as his continued stay in the country is deemed illegal.
“All he wants is just to go back to his home country,” said
the source.
Efforts to seek assistance from the Zimbabwe Football
Association – and Footballers Union of Zimbabwe (FUZ) have hit a brick wall,
according to our source.
“His parent club in Ghana have also tried to reach out to
Zifa for assistance but nothing has materialised. Imagine what it feels like to
live in a foreign country for a year and half while surviving on handouts,” he
said.
FUZ secretary general Thomas Sweswe said his office had not
received communication from a club in Ghana about a player stuck in Zvishavane.
An official at the Zifa Central region – whose jurisdiction
Shabanie Mine FC falls under – said their hands were tied since the player was
not registered with the league.
“Our hands are tied, I think Shabanie Mine are better
positioned to help the player since they invited him for trials,” said Gift
Nyapomwe, the Central Region secretary for administration.
Shabanie Mine FC boss Elias Marufu said he was not aware of
any player by that name.
“If he was invited for trials, supposedly with Shabanie,
then he must have been dealing with an agent who must make sure that the
player’s stay in the country is comfortable and lawful. It’s unfortunate that
foreign players are brought into the country by agents who later abandon and
leave them stranded,” said Marufu.
Zifa spokesperson Xolisani Gwesela’s cellphone was not
reachable. B Metro
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