Mulenga: Benni ‘Took His Own Money To Pay For My Rehab’

Augustine Mulenga, who is one of the 15 players that were released by AmaZulu last week has opened up on how his former coach Benni McCarthy took from his own pocket to pay for rehabilitation so he would come back from injury.

Mulenga’s contract was not extended by Usuthu, however, he claimed that initially, the club’s president Sandile Zungu had promised him a contract extension.

Early in the recently ended season, Mulenga was injured when they played Cape Town City in MTN 8. He had to stay off the field for two months nursing his injury, he has told Soccer Laduma that the rehabilitation wasn’t done 100% professionally and explained how McCarthy helped him out.

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“The first game we played against Cape Town City (in the MTN8), I got injured. Someone fell on my ankle. I stayed (out) for two months and the rehab was not that professional for me to get better the way I was supposed to be,” said Mulenga.

“Even the time I started training with the guys, I was just forcing myself because the team was not doing so well. Every time when I went to training to see the physio, they used to say, ‘You must come back, the team is not doing well.’ They told me to push myself so that I could be back on the field.

“I had to sacrifice myself… the tendon rupture happened (in March) and then now at the end they did not want to renew. If they told me six months before that they won’t renew my contract, by now I could have made a plan.

“There was a time when we as players were in a meeting with the president, Mr (Sandile) Zungu. He told me himself that they’d renew my contract and said that he’d talk to my agent. So, I was surprised when they told me that they are not renewing. That’s why I feel they’ve betrayed me. They could have been honest with me instead of what they did.

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“The rehab was not 100% the way I was supposed to get it because my injury was bad that time. I stayed (out) for, like, two months and two weeks. If I can remember, the team was saying they’d help me, but we had one physio at the club. He can’t manage to see me and see these other guys.

“I remember coach Benni is the one who even took me to see someone else there in Durban who has a private (practice). Coach Benni took his own money to pay for my rehab, for me to be back on the field. He’s the one who helped me,” added Mulenga.