It was more about bonuses in Congo; if you won, you got bonuses. The league was not sponsored. I earned something like R500 at home.
Whenever you won, the presidents of clubs would pay you from their own pockets, and at the end of the month, we'd get R500 each.
"But at Chiefs, you'd have more than five pairs of soccer boots, more than four pairs of takkies, and more than four pairs of tracksuits within a year."
What did you do to celebrate?
Rather than celebrate with my first salary, I sent it home to my parents. It was a sacrifice because my mother was a widow, and my father had just passed away when I joined Chiefs.
I celebrated my first cup with Chiefs. I just forgot the name of the competition.
"They gave us each R10 000. It was my biggest check ever in soccer.
The food at Chiefs was nothing, I was eating at a hotel, and the team bus used to carry me there. As a result, I took nothing from my first salary, I just gave it to my mother.
Is there an allowance for girlfriends?
In those days, I was focused on my football career; I only thought about girlfriends after a friend took me to Soweto.
As soon as I got there, I saw some hot stuff, man, stuff that wasn't my usual taste. Then I thought, 'Wow! There's some hot stuff in South Africa?'"
