Atusaye demands due in SA
Flames on-and-off forward Atusaye Nyondo has complained to South Africa’s Players Union over unpaid dues at his National First Division club Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM).
The club has allegedly not been paying Nyondo, who signed a one-and-a-half-year deal with the club in January, his full salary.
Nyondo said he has only been receiving R10 000 (about K510 000) a month, which is less than half of what he agreed with TTM, according to South Africa publication www.kickoff.com.
“I signed a one-and-a half-year contract and I still have a year to go. To be honest with you, it’s just so bad, where you see other players get paid. It’s me and Joseph [Kamwendo] where we don’t get paid. We don’t know what the problem is, because it’s from January up to now where we get small money. It’s not even half of your salary,” Atusaye was quoted as saying by Kickoff.com.
The former Bloemfontein Celtic and University of Pretoria player said he has been asking for financial help from relations and friends or using his savings from back home.
“It’s a challenging situation, where you have to ask friends just to help you with something or I end up taking the money that I was keeping in my account back home just to survive,” Atusaye said.
The former Silver Strikers marksman has lodged a complaint with South Africa’s Players Union.
However, TTM team manager Livhuwani Madzuhe, said all players at the club are getting their salaries and that they were not aware of any complaint lodged with the Players Union.
“There is no such, that’s false accusations. I don’t know where it comes from, but that’s not true. All the players are happy and that’s why our team is doing well,” he said.
Meanwhile, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) player transfer system and compliance manager Casper Jangale said Atusaye has a right to terminate the contract.
“The new Fifa rules on players’ status state that if you are not getting paid for two months, you give your club 15 days notice. If they don’t pay you after 15 days, you can terminate the contract. Then you can sue the club for the unpaid dues,” he said.
Atusaye hinted on terminating his contract if the situation does not change.
“They have breached the contract, so that’s when the Players Union come in. If it does not work out, then there is always another opportunity somewhere,” he said.
Atusaye has been in the rainbow nation for 10 years after joining Carara Kicks in 2009 from Silver.
He joined SuperSport United in 2011 where he spent four years and was loaned out to Pretoria University in 2013-2014 season
After the loan, he signed permanently for Pretoria University where he spent two season before moving to Bloemfontein Celtic in 2016.
Celtic released him in June 2018. n
