Players were worried about safety in Zambia
Bafana Bafana’s French-based midfielder Bongani Zungu has revealed the players were worried about their safety in Lusaka for their now-cancelled friendly against Zambia.
Bafana were scheduled to play the Chipolopolo at Lusaka’s Heroes National Stadium, however the game was called off on Tuesday by the Football Association of Zambia in response to the latest wave of xenophobic attacks in SA.
Zungu‚ a darling of the fans of French Ligue 1 side Amiens‚ said the Bafana players discussed the possibility of the match being called off before it was cancelled.
“We spoke about it as players before Zambia confirmed the cancellation of the match‚” Zungu said at Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto on Wednesday after Bafana beat National First Division team Moroka Swallows 6-0 in a training match.
SA will now play Madagascar in a friendly at Orlando Stadium on Saturday.
“We were asking ourselves if we were going to be safe when we get to Zambia,” said the 26year-old former University of Technology and Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder.
“When the game was cancelled it was sad‚ obviously‚ because we wanted to play. But safety always comes first.”
The xenophobic attacks took place mostly in the city centres of Johannesburg and Pretoria, but the violence spread to the townships‚ especially on the East Rand where Zungu is from.
Violence was reported in Tembisa and Katlehong‚ a stone’s throw from nearby Duduza township, where Zungu was born and grew up.
Zungu arrived in SA from France on Tuesday and said he had been worried sick about the safety of his family.
“Yeah‚ I come from the East Rand and while I was in France before coming here for the Bafana camp I was hearing stories and it was worrying‚ because every day I had to call my family and ask them if they were OK‚” he said.
It is not the first time xenophobic violence has reared its ugly head in SA and Zungu said he and his compatriots plying their trade in Europe often have to field questions regarding the problem.
“It’s very sad what’s happening in the country.
“Of course, as footballers, me and the other guys‚ we are foreigners in other countries and to see such things happening in our country is very sad‚” he said.
“Even our teammates in Europe‚ they speak about these kind of things.
“When they look at SA and see such things, my teammates there ask me ‘what’s going on in your country? You guys are Africans and you treat each other like this’.”
Zungu said 2019 Africa Cup of Nations quater-finalists Madagascar were a strong opposition.