By SAMUEL LUKHANDA –
THE Zesco United board has appointed Richard Mulenga as the new general secretary for the Zambian Super League champions a day after news filtered through that Justin Mumba together with treasurer Joel Nkhata had been fired.
Mulenga confirmed his appointment in a telephone interview while the club still awaits the appointment of the treasurer which is expected today.
He expressed gratitude to the board for the trust put in him at the same time realizes the difficulty to fill the shoes left by his predecessor.
“I am grateful to the board for the trust in appointing me to lead Zesco at this time but it is also difficult to fill the shoes Justin has left,” said Mulenga.
Mumba together with Nkhata were relieved off their duties by Zesco Limited management, the sponsors of the team but no reasons have been given yet.
“I will be meeting the board next week where I expect to be given the way forward. But I intend to take the club to the next level building from where Mr Mumba left off. We have conquered Zambia, now it’s now time to conquer Africa,” said the new Zesco general secretary.
He said Zesco harbour ambitions of breaking into the top best five clubs in Africa and it starts with this year CAF Champions League campaign.
Mulenga, who was the head of technical committee before the appointment, has served in the Zesco executive from 2003 to 2006 and took a sabbatical and returned in 2011 to date.
He said he brings a wealth of management experience and with FAZ vigorous implementation of Club Licensing and that Zesco need to remain a model business entity and brand.
Meanwhile, Zesco have been ranked 15th in Africa according to the CAF five year ranking for clubs based on their performance in the inter-club competitions.
The club said it was positive feedback for them considering they have been participating in the CAF Inter-Club competitions consecutively since 2013 and showed growth in the 2016 edition.
“This is a sign that the club is maturing and growing into a power house. It gives us the enthusiasm to work harder this year to move to higher ratings. Being in the top bracket with African football powerhouses is a plus. We don’t just represent the club but the country at as well.”
Confederation Cup champions TP Mazembe of Congo DR are the African top team followed by Al Ahly, Zamalek, Etoile Du Sahel and Es Setif complete the top five of the list that is dominated by North African teams.
Former champions Mamelodi Sundowns on sixth and Orlando Pirates on eighth are the only other Southern African teams on the top 20 list with the Zambian champions in 15th place.