. Kalusha

By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA –

SIX Chipolopolo players and a physiotherapist found their hotel rooms ransacked moments before playing Mozambique in a Rwanda 2016 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifier in Maputo.
Boyd Mkandawire, Christopher Munthali, Toaster Nsabata, Benson Sakala, Spencer Sautu and Salulani Phiri including Physiotherapist Davies Mulenga found money and other personal valuables missing when they got back to the hotel rooms after having lunch ahead of the game they drew 1-1 to qualify to the CHAN finals on 4-1 aggregate.
About US$1,050 (K13,650) cash was stolen from the team that was lodged at Afrin Prestige Hotel, a five star hotel in the centre of Maputo.
A livid delegation leader Lee Kawanu described the incident as disappointing and immediately engaged the Zambian Embassy in Maputo to help solve the problem with the Diplomatic Police notified on the incident.
“It is very disappointing that a five-star hotel can allow such baloney to happen. But this has not dampened the mood in the team at all and we are happy that during the match, the affected players showed no signs of being distracted by the incident.
“I’m very confident we will get to the bottom of the issue. But this is really unacceptable. The affected people lost between US$50 and US$200 each,” Kawanu said in Maputo.
Immediately the matter was brought to the officials’ attention, FAZ demanded an explanation from hotel management on what exactly happened. But after getting unsatisfactory response, the FAZ officials demanded that the hotel management identify workers that cleaned the affected rooms.
As the team left Maputo for Zambia yesterday, the matter was handed over to the Embassy.
“We have asked the Embassy to follow up the matter on our behalf and they have engaged the Diplomatic Police to help get to the bottom of the matter,” Kawanu said.
Distraught with the incident, FAZ president Kalusha Bwalya asked that the players be given money from the FAZ coffers equivalent to what they had lost as investigations progressed.
“The president (Kalusha Bwalya) has instructed me to refund all the victims of the robbery while we wait for the issue to be resolved. This is very good for the team,” he said.