By John Muyamba
RUNDU – One of Kavango Region’s oldest and popular football clubs, Cuca Tops is crippled with non-functional structures and fingers are pointing in the direction of the club’s former blue-eyed boy, Paul Kandere, who allegedly appointed himself as head coach.
Kandere is accused of apparently blocking progress.
“It’s not good to work with a coach that is unprofessional. To top it off, he was not appointed to be in that position, how do we perform,” complained a disgruntled player.
Insiders close to the club say Gundolf Mukoya was initially appointed as head coach but was outmuscled out by Kandere who is now refusing to hand over the team to Mukoya. The former Tops’ mercurial midfielder’s unbecoming behaviour is allegedly being shielded by the club’s chairperson Lucas Mbangu, who apparently turns a blind eye on these shnanignas.
“He has taken the position by force and because of his actions, the team lost most of their core players who crossed the floor joining traditional rivals Julinho Sporting, United Stars and other local clubs,” charged one prominent supporter who requested anonymity.
In pursuit for clarity, New Era Sports approached Kandere to shed light on the allegations but the long serving law enforcer declined to give comment, referring all querries to Mbangu.
In his reponse, Mbangu dismissed the claims as hogwash adding that he did not personally know the complainants but when pressed as to how Kandere was appointed, he could not say how.
“I cannot comment because they cannot complain without coming to me as a chairperson, I will come back to you when I prepare myself on that issue,” said a red faced Mbangu.
Meanwhile, a concerned member of the club asked all supporters to unite and collectively save the club from Kandere. “His action is one of the contributing factors as to why such a big well known team is still campaigning in the first division having failed dismally to gain promotion to the country’s flagship league over the years.”