Referees have now been urged to protect Khama Billiat, who has been met with a flurry of crunching tackles by opposition since his return to Zimbabwe earlier this year.
Billiat joined Yadah Stars FC in February after going six months without a club following his bitter departure from Kaizer Chiefs.
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The 33-year-old was welcomed back to the country with a celebrity-like reception by many prominent officials who made the deal happen as well as fans.
However, it is reported that his opponents have not been as kind. In fact, he is said to have been subjected to some hostile treatment on the pitch, as claimed by former Zimbabwe national team general manager Wellington Mpandare, who is believed to be one of the people who were influential in bringing the former Mamelodi Sundowns attacker back to Zim.
He has further suggested that some players have even been instructed to hurt Billiat.
"Khama is a brand, in the past years fans have not been attending games but since he joined Yadah, he has attracted a lot of fans back to the stadiums as witnessed at Hwange, Mutare, Bulawayo, and Harare when Yadah played Dynamos and Simba," Mpandare told Soccer24.
"Against Dynamos, more than five thousand fans were turned away because of gate entrance issues, Khama had more fans seated in the City end bay compared to Dynamos fans in the Vietnam end.
"It was Khama who attracted most of the fans including Dynamos fans because against Bulawayo Chiefs, Dynamos could not attract even half of the fans with gate entrance issues resolved.
"We should take a leaf from Saudi Arabia, who improved their league by attracting top players. In our league, we don't see the benefit of having players like Khama back in our league.
"Case in point, Yadah versus Simba; Simba players were determined to make sure that Khama would not play football again and they almost achieved that, which is sad.
"The referee of the day didn't protect him. Khama was kicked on and off the ball until he got injured. One of the Simba players said he wanted to end Khama's career.
"The players, coaches, referees do not understand the value Khama brings to our league.
"The benefits have a ripple effect in our football, good attendances mean referees are paid on time, players are paid on time, PSL, SRC and ZIFA get more and the clubs remain with some money.
"Even PSL and the sponsors don't see the value in Khama, they are not taking advantage of the Khama hype."
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