Former Black Leopards defender Jean Munganga now jobless

Former Black Leopards FC player Jean Djunga Munganga is desperately searching for a job. The 33-year-old defender last played professional football when his employment contract with Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM) expired at the end of the 2019/20 soccer season. His stay at TTM was unpleasant as he featured in only five league games.

The Kinshasa-born Munganga played for the national side of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) before arriving in South Africa in 2012. This happened after he had impressed a scout from Black Leopards in their CAF Confederation Cup game against the DRC side, Saint Eloi Lupopo. He played for Black Leopards for seven years until his work relationship with the Thohoyandou side came to an end at the close of the 2018/19 soccer season.

During an interview, Munganga said that he started to live a miserable life after his departure from TTM. He revealed that he tried his luck with several DStv Premiership Division clubs, but none of them had offered him an employment contract. Speaking from his rented room in Polokwane, Munganga mentioned that at first he had thought the problem would be short lived and that he would soon find a new job, but that was not to be.

Realising that for him to clinch a deal with the Premiership clubs was difficult, Munganga then decided to look at the Motsepe Foundation Championship Division just to keep the home fires burning, but misfortune followed him there. Munganga mentioned that he had exhausted all his savings, and even paying for his rented room was difficult.

His hope is to find a job when the PSL transfer window opens in January next year. When asked if he was ready to settle for less in case his wish to find a new job in the Premiership Division sides did not become a reality, the former DRC national team captain said that anything that would bring food to the table was acceptable to him.

Date:25 November 2023

By: Frank Mavhungu

Frank is a Human Resources Manager at the Department of Public Works in Limpopo. He is the longest serving correspondent of the Mirror, having joined us at the end of 1990.  He mainly writes sports reports and resides at Tsianda Village. In 2004, Frank won the National Castle League Award, an award for the best reporter in the SAB league in South Africa.

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