Former Kaizer Chiefs midfielder, Thabiso Malatsi, has spoken about how much he used to take home as a reward for playing in the professional ranks for the Soweto giants.
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These days Malatsi says he is either busy helping kids to stay away from drugs or helping out at GWP Friends in the ABC Motsepe League.
In an exclusive interview with Soccer Laduma this week, the Daveyton-born player has revealed about his first ever monthly salary at Chiefs up to his last, when he left the Naturena outfit.
"Thina besingarholi bhut'omkhulu (We didn't earn much, big brother). My first salary at Chiefs was R1 200 a month. When I renewed the contract, after I made a name for myself in the team, I still earned less than R10 000 a month. Chiefs never paid me R15 000 or R20 000, or any amount close to that," said Malatsi.
The 33-year-old says he is grateful to the Amakhosi for helping him with his upbringing during the days of his development days at the club.
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"The thing is that we grew up there and the club paid our school fees and did everything for us. I think it was more like a policy at the time that when a player got promoted from the development, he would start somewhere and make his way up. I never got paid R10 000 at Chiefs. It was around R8 000... around R7 500 after tax. My family knew about it because every time I went to sign important documents at the club, I had my mother accompanying me. I never had an agent. I was not earning a lot of money but it was enough to take care of the needs of my family and myself. I made extra money from the junior national team call-ups," explained Malatsi.
