Shumana wants to give something back
Former Ajax Cape Town wonderkid Mfundo Shumana’s football career ended mysteriously, leaving many wondering what prompted him to hang up his boots at the age of 28.
Many fans were left wondering what had happened to him as he was once a promising talent who was expected to achieve big things in football.
Phakaaathi traced the 31-year-old to the Mother City after he ditched his boots for an office job where he is required to wear a suit and tie on a daily basis.
He said there were incidents that happened during his stay at Chippa United which put him off football, but declined to explain further.
“I would rather not mention what those events were, but they were personal. There is no bad blood between me and Chippa, but what happened made me feel it was time to move on,” he said.
He tried to find another team but when he realised it was not working, he decided to venture into new territory.
Shumana broke into the football scene for Ajax Cape Town as a 16-year-old after graduating from the club’s academy. He played alongside established names like Maimane Phiri and Bradley August from 2003 to 2009.
“To be honest, we were pushed into the first team because we used to play with people who were two or three years older than us in the development team. That got us ready for the first team. I was there with the likes of Nazeer Allie, Granwald Scott and Nhlanhla Tshabalala when Gordon Igesund gave us a chance to train with the first team. I didn’t have a problem adapting because we had people guiding us … we were excited to play football,” said Shumana of his rise to the senior team.
Shumana left Ajax in 2009 to fulfil his childhood dream of playing for one of the Soweto giants and joined Moroka Swallows where he stayed for two years before joining then newly promoted side Chippa United.
Shumana said football gave him a platform he never thought he would ever get and set himself up for a better life as he managed to buy himself a house and cars during his short career. He is now living well above the breadline and has high praise for Mike Makaab who was his agent and encouraged him to save for the future.
“It was easy for me to hang up my boots because I had saved up some money that could sustain me,” he said.
Shumana is now a financial adviser with Old Mutual and wants to give something back to football by helping players plan their future.
The Nyanga-born midfielder plans to use his experience as a player and his career as a financial adviser to educate the current generation of footballers about planning for life after the game. Although his attempts to reach out to current players to provide financial literacy have proved unpopular, Shumana believes football clubs should make it compulsory for players to receive guidance in the way they spend their money to curb the trend of players dying as paupers.
“Getting a player to talk to me about their money is difficult because some of them don’t like the idea of showing a former player like myself how much they make right now. But I want to talk to club bosses to allow me to address the players because at the end of the day, the players are the ones who suffer and end up with nothing,” said Shumana.
Hajji, as Shumana was known during his playing days, said he now keeps fit by playing social football.