The fall of Chiefs’ former star Zuma: Friends, money, family, renting?

Kaizer Chiefs’ former treasured and worshipped forward Dumisani Zuma is apparently ruined. This is according to his former coach in the ABC Motsepe League.

FORMER COACH DESCRIBES DUMISANI ZUMA’S PROBLEM AT KAIZER CHIEFS

The player known as Msholozi was dismissed by Amakhosi after two drinking offenses in 2021 and again this year.

ALSO READ: Gavin Hunt names Chiefs’ former star as Mzansi’s best ever

The Pietermaritzburg-born player was welcomed back to training at the start of 2022 before two promising appearances under Arthur `Zwane.

His former coach simply believes that Zuma’s career went awry the moment he started living without a family. Instead, he lived with peers at an early age and that was when he began to fall off the tracks in Bloemfontein even before Kaizer Chiefs.

ALSO READ: ‘I don’t need anyone to talk at my funeral’ says Orlando Pirates’ former star

“I’m not able to judge him but I believe peer pressure effects have gotten him in that position,” Obinna Okafor, who coached Zuma at Kings United, told Kick Off.

“Part of the blame is on (Bloemfontein) Celtic because they didn’t put him in to stay with a family to provide guardian support when they signed as a teenager but just gave him R4000 for accommodation.

ALSO READ: ‘Your own teammates witchcraft you’ says Kaizer Chiefs’ former striker

“I took him to Celtic as a teenager. I did his first contract at Celtic and asked the Greek guy that I was negotiating with to kindly use his signing-on fees to buy him a house and put him in a family environment instead of giving him R4000 for rentals.

“The Greek guy said the boy must decide what to do with his money, which is why I say I partly blame Celtic for the problems besetting Zuma.

“What do you think will happen with a boy from the rural areas who was on an R300 stipend when he starts getting a salary of R10 000 with no family to caution him. Celtic then more than doubled his salary.

The former mentor concluded to say that he feels as if he abandoned Zuma when the player would have done better with his continued guidance.

“It is disturbing to talk about this boy because I also feel I let him down,” Okafor added.

ALSO READ: Watch – The best highlights of Kaizer Chiefs’ new star Maart

“Throughout his time at Celtic, we kept in touch but when he went to Chiefs, we grew distant because of other people that didn’t want me close.

“Dumi even once stayed at Serame Letsoako’s house in Gauteng because of his documented troubles,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, the Pietermaritzburg-born attacker is looking forward to next season after signing a whopping four-year deal with AmaZulu.

ALSO READ: Big report – Orlando Pirates want head coach, four big-name candidates

ALSO READ: Watch – Sundowns star Jali shows cow meat and mqombothi at home