FORMER Zesco United mentor, Zlakto Krmpotic, is the new Polokwane City head coach!
Club boss Johnny Mogaladi confirmed yesterday to SunSport that the well-travelled Serbian completed his move to City, but he is still awaiting his work permit.
In the meantime, Bernard Molekwa, the City assistant coach, will carry on with training at the club until Krmpotic officially takes over.
“He came to SA last year but never worked for any club, even though Royal Eagles were interested in him,” Mogaladi explains.
“He refused on condition that he does not want to work for a club in the lower division.” The 60-year-old joins City from an army club APR FC Kigali in Rwanda whom he led to a second place finish in their league.
He was assistant coach to DR Congo giants TP Mazembe in 2015 and coached Zambian side Zesco United in 2017.
Zlatko has been in the country since last week and has already sorted out some logistics, including accommodation and other things.
City face Limpopo rivals Black Leopards in their opening game of the 2019-20 season at Thohoyandou Stadium on 4 August.
Meanwhile, Mogaladi has cleared the air that he is not fighting with their former coach Jozef Vukusic, but wants him to follow proper procedure.
Mogaladi and Vukusic are scheduled to meet in Parktown on 5 August, at the PSL offices, where lawyers of the two parties will try to resolve their dispute.
In all honesty, another war is brewing considering that this plays out as a carbon copy of the fight between Mogaladi and former coach Luc Eymael two years ago.
Eymael caused waves at the Limpopo club in 2017 when he announced his shock departure to take over the helm at Bloemfontein Celtic.
But Mogaladi acted quickly to block the move, having won their interdict against the coach’s switch.
Mogaladi has now launched a similar case against Vukusic who abruptly resigned through the media at the end of the 2018-19 season.
Mogaladi is arguing that proper procedure was not followed by the Slovakian, who resigned instead of terminating his contract with the club.
Explains Mogaladi: “All I want him to do is to terminate his contract, and NOT resign. He has a contract, and he must sit down with me and discuss terminationterms of his contract. “We need to agree and sign on the dotted lines and shake hands that I don’t owe him, and he does not owe me. Otherwise this matter might land with Fifa in future, and I could be charged.”
Vukusic’s lawyer Kabelo Mashego told SunSport that they have filed a statement “in defence of our client and also filed a counter claim for constructive dismissal”.
“The coach resigned and his reason was due to (bad) treatment,” Mashego said about the 54-year-old mentor.
The coach was admitted to hospital in his home country for 15 days where he underwent two operations due to artery problems, SunSport has learnt.
Although, Vukusic is still undergoing a rehabilitation programme in Slovakia, but he is expected back in Mzansi to attend to his case.
