ALOIS BUNJIRA (PART 3)
Wow, we’ve been so captivated by your story so far. But as we understand it, there are twists to the tale. So, last week, we finished off with you leaving Natasha Tsichlas’ office having gone there to seek clarity about your situation of not being registered for the season. Let’s continue from there… So, as soon as I got home, I got a call from Roger de Sa ,who was still at Bidvest Wits. He said, “Gazza, how are you? I heard you didn’t play over the weekend and Mamelodi Sundowns have registered five foreigners already. You are not registered. What is the story?” I told Roger what Mrs Natasha had told me. Roger then said, “But that thing takes long. It means you will be out all that time. Tell you what? Why don’t you come back to Bidvest Wits, and you can apply for your Permanent Residence Permit while you play. You know here, you will be registered while waiting for your Permanent Residence Permit.” I was like, “That sounds like a great idea, Roger. But how do we go about it? I have three more years on my contract with Sundowns.” Roger said, “Leave that to me. Let me work out something.” A week passed by with no word from Roger, while I kept training with Sundowns. Another match came and went, with me being a spectator. It was beginning to get to me. The Sundowns fans came to me after that home game at Loftus, asking why I was not playing. I couldn’t really tell them the whole story. They seemed genuinely worried that I was not playing. I was also cracking inside. My three best friends at Sundowns, Sashi Chalwe, Rotson Kilambe and Siaka Tiene, were all playing, while I stayed at home, especially for away games. It was killing me. Then I got a call from my manager, Mike Makaab.
Right.
He said he had spoken to Roger and asked me if I really wanted to leave Sundowns and go back to Wits. I said, “Yeah, l would not mind going back to Wits. I want to play.” Mike said he was going to talk to Sundowns about it. Two days later, Mike came back to me and said that Mrs Natasha told him pointblank that, “Alois is not going anywhere. We already agreed with Alois about his Permanent Residence Permit. He stays at Sundowns, end of story.”
They don’t call her the “Iron Lady” for nothing, ha, ha, ha.
Eish, man. I was stuck. What to do now? I thought of a plan. A few days later, after our team meeting with President Patrice
Motsepe, I went to Mr Motsepe and asked him to talk to Mrs Natasha to release me to Wits. He asked why I wanted to leave Sundowns at a time when he had big plans for the teamandIwasa big part of those plans. I explained to him the situation. He seemed to understand my situation, but he also didn’t want me to leave. But he promised to talk to Mrs Natasha about my issue. A day later, I got a call from Mike. He told me that there could be a loophole and a way out of my contract with Sundowns. He said since I was a foreigner, and not registered with the League, I could be declared a free agent once the window is closed, according to labour and immigration law in South Africa. He asked me if I wanted us to take that route. I explained to him that I wouldn’t want to antagonise myself with Sundowns by leaving in a bad way. They had treated me well. An amicable separation could work. Mike then said he would throw it at Sundowns and see their reaction. In the meantime, I think Roger also reached out to Motsepe because I then got a call from Roger saying there could be a solution. Roger said, “Patrice Motsepe is a great fan of Manqoba Ngwenya. I have offered him a swap deal for you to come to Wits and they take Manqoba, since they can register Manqoba straight away, as a local.” He said, “Motsepe seems to be for the deal since he also heard you could be declared a free agent.” I was excited.
Sounds like good news after all you had gone through.
Meanwhile at training, Oscar Fullone was being hostile to me. He was now making me train with reserves, unregistered players and trialists. Eish, that man.
That solidified my resolve to leave. I don’t know if Mrs Natasha, Mr Angelo (Tsichlas) or Mr Motsepe knew what was happening to me at the training ground. Peter Koutroulis and Daniel “Mambush” Mudau are the only guys who kept assuring me that things will be okay. They really wanted me at the club and I could tell they were also worried about my situation. It was also affecting my national team prospects. The negotiations for the swap deal with Ngwenya started.
Now this is the part we’ve been waiting
for… Soon, transfer deadline day arrived. A deal had to be done on that very last day. I was called to the office by Mrs Natasha. When I arrived, Derek Blanckensee, the Bidvest Wits manager, was on the phone and I was given the phone. Derek said, “Hello Gazza. You need to be in my office this morning as early as you can be, before 12h00. Registration with PSL closes at 12h00 today and you need to sign some papers for your registration. Yes, we are doing the swap deal. Manqoba has been told. He also has to be at the Sundowns offices for him to be registered today. If one of you is not registered, the deal is off and you stay at Sundowns. Make your way to my office right now.” It was around 09h00. I said goodbye to Mrs Natasha, she wished me all the best and I left. The thing is that at Sundowns, we trained at 09h00, so it was easy to get hold of me that morning at Chloorkop. But at Wits, they trained at 16h00. So, Manqoba was actually at home when the decision to go ahead with the swap deal was made that morning. They had to look for him!
Goodness!
His phone was off and they struggled to get him on his cellphone. I arrived at the Wits office just after 10h00 and signed my documents. Now we sat waiting for the clearfrom ance Sundowns, to complete my registration. Sundowns were only going to send my clearafter ance Manqoba had signed. 11h30, Manqoba had not arrived at Chloorkop. Myself and Derek were getting anxious and jittery. Manqoba’s phone was off and we didn’t know how far from Chloorkop he was. We just stood there looking at the fax machine. ha, we’re imagining all of happening. Ah, the good days of fax machines! At exactly 11h50, the fax machine made the sound we were waiting for. The clearance from Sundowns came through. Manqoba had arrived at the Sundowns offices. My registration with Wits was completed, five minutes before the transfer deadline. I was now officially back at Wits on a three-year deal. Sundowns had agreed to pay me the signing-on fees for my remaining two-and-a-half years at Sundowns, while Wits agreed to maintain the same salary I was on at Sundowns. Deal was done. I was happy to move away from Oscar Fullone. Throughout my football career, he is only that one coach who never liked me. I always played for clubs where I was a favourite of coaches, my whole career. Fullone was an exception to the rule. It boggled my mind. I should say, the feeling became mutual. I never liked him too. He killed my blossoming Mamelodi Sundowns career, where I had signed a four-year contract and only stayed for 18 months. One day I will talk about those two matches against Sundowns when I was back at Wits. It was like a war between me and Oscar Fullone, ha, ha, ha. Sashi Chalwe always laughs when he tells me what Fullone was saying at half-time of one of the matches. I was burning and on fire that day, ha, ha, ha.
Hilarious.
And guess what? That very season, I was the Top Goalscorer and Player of the Season at Wits. We finished fourth on the log, ahead of Sundowns, and that coach, Fullone, didn’t last the season at Sundowns. May his soul continue resting in peace. However, my heart has remained with Sundowns over the years, to this day. I love the club. Ka Bo Yellow! I never wanted to leave the club, a club I had supported since the days of Alex Maseko, Nelson Bandura and (Henry) “Bully” McKop.
We opened this week’s instalment with a ‘wow’ and let’s end it off with a ‘wow’. Just ‘wow’. We’re definitely sure the Soccer Laduma readers enjoyed going back in time and taking a peep into your Downs nightmare, and thankfully the story has a beautiful ending. Maybe we should bring you back in the near future to talk about those two games against Sundowns (or is it against Fullone?), not forgetting what happened with Sashi Chalwe and the two girls at that hotel in Cameroon, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha! I also enjoyed sharing my story. I’m sure people will also be amazed at how Manqoba joined Sundowns.