On to Part 2! Your story in last week’s edition, about how you went out of your way to get to know what some of your then teammates at Bush Bucks were earning, was incredible and quite eye-opening. Funny too!
Ha, ha, ha! Well, I never told them how I managed to get such information. Someone would tell me that I was getting paid more than him, for example, and I would tell that person, “Uyaxoka (You’re lying), you are getting paid suchand- such an amount.” What they used to do was that when you arrived at the club, they would tell you that you were earning more than the other players but that you should keep that information to yourself. That’s the psychology that they used on us. But I was never one to take their word for it – as they say, seeing is believing. To my shock, I discovered that all this talk that ‘so-and-so is earning better than so-and-so’ was just lies, the actual people who were big earners here were so-and-so. Whenever I went into negotiations, I would tell them, “I have no problem with Mugeyi (twins William and Wilfred) or (John) Maduka or Brendan Augustine earning a lot of money, but khawundinike le yam (just give me what’s due to me). I’m competing with-so-and-so and he is in the stands, but I don’t have a problem with him. Just give me what’s due to me so that I can be fully satisfied. I want to be in a position where I don’t point fingers at you after I retire. Mandizityele imali yam intsangu okanye namankazana okanye etywaleni (Let me spend my money on dagga or women or on alcohol). It would be better if I blame myself for the wrong decisions I took with my money rather than being given so little.”
Hmmm…
