Malajila poised to strike for Wits
CUTHBERT Malajila says he is reborn, a bit of a cliché remark used by players who feel they have been given a new lease of life by moving to new clubs.
But the Zimbabwean striker, on the verge of representing his national team at next year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon, genuinely means it after spending the previous season as something of a back-up player at Premiership champions Mamelodi Sundowns, despite his talent and scoring record.
Wits made it clear to the Brazilians that a deal between the two clubs for the services of Sibusiso Vilakazi would be struck only if Malajila, along with Mogakolodi Ngele, went in the opposite direction.
“I had no hesitation,” said Malajila of the move to Wits, who face Orlando Pirates at the Bidvest Stadium in a top-of-thetable league clash tonight.
“The best thing for a player is to always compete. Sure, you could say the other contributing factor to this transfer was to give myself a fighting chance to make the national team. They can’t pick me if I’m not getting any game time.”
Malajila had plenty of reason to be frustrated at Sundowns, a club that beat stiff competition to land his signature three years ago from Maritzburg United, where he had finished the season as the club’s top scorer with 11 league goals.
Two seasons later he found himself down the pecking order, yet still had two championship medals to show for his hard work at Chloorkop.
But it was time to say goodbye. This season Wits have played six matches so far, with Malajila only managing two starts, but he finally announced himself by scoring in the 2-0 league victory away to rookies Baroka FC on Tuesday night, having only been on the pitch for 10 minutes.
“I’m a player who always wants to contribute, I don’t want to just sit and get medals,” he said.
He wants to play and he definitely has mileage on him, to borrow a phrase from his new coach Gavin Hunt, who is obsessed with players that have been around the block and have a winning mentality.
“When I’m working hard, I want to see how my hard work pays,” Malajila continued.
“Last season was not like that. I don’t usually want to talk about the past. Right now I feel like I’ve just come from Zimbabwe and I’m working hard to give my all to Wits. Already we are in a cup final, which is big for me because I’ve never played in an MTN8 cup final.”
Tonight there is the small matter of trying to get maximum points against a Pirates side who are tied with Wits on seven points from three matches. The Clever Boys made it look easy – also thanks to two howlers from goalkeeper Felipe Ovono – in the 2-1 win when these teams met a month ago at the Bidvest Stadium in the quarter-finals of the cup.
“It’s difficult to refer back to that cup match because it’s gone now, but we have to keep improving,” said Malajila.
“For me, all I want is to become better than before. That’s why I chose Wits.”