The ManicaPost
Senior Sports Reporter
FORMER national team goalkeeper, Washington Arubi (pictured right) is reportedly surviving from hand to mouth since joining South Africa third tier league side, Alexandra Black Aces, a move that was widely perceived by many local critics as a monumental blunder.
Reliable sources confided in this newspaper this week that the Mutare-born goalie, who could be feeling the effects of match fixing allegations, is finding it difficult to make ends meet at the club.
He is reportedly facilitating his work permit and deducting the costs from the meager earnings he is entitled to.
Basic needs such as accommodation are now said to be a challenge for the soft spoken player who is now reportedly earning an amount in the region of 10 000 Rands per month.
However, the 31-year-old former Dynamos, Highlanders and Lancashire Steel shot stopper insists that he is on the right path in reviving his career.
“My things are fine. I am working on getting a permanent resident here, that is all. I applied for it because the team I am going to sign for wants me to have a permanent resident status since they already have five foreigners in their books.
“Being quiet does not mean things are tight for me. The other thing is that teams here do not usually sign goalkeepers. I just have to be patient with what I am processing and move on with my football career.
“That is why I decided to play for a lower division team for me to work for my fifth year to get permanent resident status. I already have four years,” said Arubi in an interview this week from his South African base.
In August this year, Arubi moved to ABC Motsepe League club Alexandra Black Aces, a second division side strengthening its team with experienced players among them the Sakubva-born 31-year-old shot stopper.
The Zimbabwean goalkeeper joined the club as a free agent, having parted ways with the University of Pretoria at the end of last season.
Another school of thought proffered is that Arubi decided to stay in South Africa given the long standing dispute with his estranged wife that saw him being incarcerated at one point.
On January 30 last year, Arubi was arrested in connection with arrears in maintenance and was ordered to pay $650 per month for the upkeep of his two sons with Tatenda Iris Nyandoro.
He defaulted to the tune of $4 914 and found himself being a guest of the State cells in December last year.
Arubi appeared in court and was slapped with a four-month suspended sentence on condition that he paid the outstanding amount by June 30 this year.
Many in Mutare, where the player, in his early childhood, fell in love with the game that later gave him fame, believe that the former Dynamos and Lancashire Steel goalkeeper should have come back home.
Some are of the opinion that Arubi could have better off joined the Mozambican top flight league, a platform that could have easily played the springboard effect to his waning fortunes.
Alexandra Black Aces is owned by the Morfou brothers, who made some tidy money when they sold Mpumalanga Black Aces Absa Premiership franchise to John Comitis.
Comitis named the new club Cape Town FC.
Aces have the likes of former Orlando Pirates trio Rudolf Bester, Clifford Ngobeni and Dennis Masina on their books. However, results on the field have been eluding coach Steve Barker and the team. When Arubi arrived, the team had lost three consecutive games in their league campaign.
The team also lost against Baberwa FC in the preliminary round of the Nedbank Cup. Barker and by the time he joined the team, it had earned their points when they were awarded a walkover against Garankuwa United in their first ABC Motsepe league game, due to insufficient players’ registration cards.
When Arubi joined them, Aces were in 12th place in the South African third tier with three points in four games.
