Zakazaka yet to reimburse K1.5m Nomads’ signing-on fee
Former Flames striker Jimmy Zakazaka has not refunded K1.5 million (about $2 290) which Be Forward Wanderers paid him as signing-on fee after joining the Nomads last year.
This is despite the former Big Bullets forward promising—via an e-mail which The Nation has seen—to reimburse the funds through monthly instalments starting August last year following Football Association of Malawi (FAM)intervention.
Zakazaka promised Wanderers that he would be paying K70 000 (about $106) per month and a K500 000 (about $763) once off payment once he had sold his vehicle.
In an interview yesterday, Wanderers general secretary Mike Butao said Zakazaka had not honoured the promise despite several reminders.
“We have done all we could to recover the money, but the player has been very elusive despite promising to repay us,” he said.
Zakazaka joined Wanderers after failing to agree terms with Bullets where, on return from Mozambique, he played for a season and scored nine goals.
After signing a pre-contract and pocketing K1.5 million as part of the reported K1.8 million signing-on fee, he joined Botswana Defence Force FC on a two-year deal.
Meanwhile, Butao laid a bigger portion of blame on FAM for failing to enforce the repayment.
On his part, FAM transfer system manager Casper Jangale said they were unable to get hold of the striker since his departure for Botswana.
“Fortunately, Zakazaka is back. We will sort out this issue hopefully this Friday. I really feel sorry for Wanderers because they have been treated unfairly by the player,” he said.
In an interview yesterday, Zakazaka said he has been failing to pay because of some issues that affected his repayment plan.
“I don’t want to go into details but all I can say is that I will meet Wanderers officials so we can map the way forward,” the 30-year-old said. n
