Ernest Sibanda who was Highlanders chairman at the time Tapuwa Kapini moved to Platinum Stars in South Africa says the club never received a cent for the transfer of the goalkeeper.

The revelation follows after a defunct football club, Zimbabwe Crackers, wrote to the Bulawayo giants, demanding Z$600,000 in solidarity funds, fourteen years after the transfer had happened.

In separate interviews with The Chronicle, Sibanda and Emmet Ndlovu, who was the team manager, explained Kapini joined the South African club as a free agent, and there was no fee paid.

“Kapini left Highlanders as a free agent, he was never sold to Platinum Stars,” said Sibanda, an assertion that was supported by Ndlovu.

However, Zim Crackers representative in the matter, Justice Nyamutsamba, says their investigations show that Highlanders received an amount equivalent to Z$2 million.

“We had to do our own investigations after learning of the transfer from the media, we contacted Platinum Stars (in 2006) as well as Safa to confirm the deal,” said Nyamutsamba.

Meanwhile, Platinum Stars no longer exists after the club sold its league franchise to Cape Umoya in the NFD in 2018.