There is nothing that is currently exciting football-loving Zambians as much as the talk and hype surrounding the career of Chelsea midfielder Charly Musonda Jr who has been called up to the Zambia national team otherwise known as the Chipolopolo.
Let’s be honest—Zambia is a country starved of stars in many fields and over the years, we have celebrated and honoured mediocrity over real substance. And when youngsters like Charly Jr, who is on loan at Spanish La Liga side Real Betis, are drawing comparisons with the mercurial Lionel Messi, there’s every reason for genuine interest.
But not all interest in the 21 year-old is genuine. Not at least when it comes from the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ), whose president Kalusha Bwalya has for decades harboured hate for Charly Jr’s father—his former club mate at Mufulira Wanderers in Zambia.
The call-up of Charly Jr to the Zambia national team is actually a well calculated move smacking of hypocrisy aimed at yet again turning the Zambian public against the Musondas should he expectedly refuse to turn up for Zambia and opt to play for Belgium or England where he also qualifies.
Just likeit happened to the father, it’s a trap to label him unpatriotic and elicit hate from ignorant Zambian fans who may not know the hate that exists between Bwalya and Charles Musonda Snr.
BACKGROUND
For those that don’t know, both Bwalya and Charles Musonda Snr played for Wanderers in the late 80s and as life would have it, they both moved to Belgium to join Cercle Brugges.
Bwalya was the first one to join Brugges while Musonda followed a little later but while at the club, one of them (Musonda) was getting more noticed than the other (Bwalya). That is where the feud we see today between the two began and has spread to Musonda’s children. It started as a battle for fame.
This is another fact that the FAZ president and his brigade will detest but within a season or two, the younger Musonda drew the attention of giants Anderlecht whom he immediately joined. Bwalya remained at Brugges until after the 1988 Olympics that he moved to PSV Eindhoven in Holland.
Put differently, Musonda, whose career in Zambia was shorter than Bwalya’s, was having a much more promising career in Europe, getting more attention there and was at some point even on the verge of joining Juventus in Italy until a knee injury scuppered the move.
For the superstitious, there’s even talk in bars in Chiwempala and Kamuchanga to this day that Musonda’s knee injury was caused by black magic (not need to guess who might have caused it if that’s true) and that Bwalya was once after Musonda’s wife Angela but failed in his bid. But that might as well just be bar talk.
The fact is Bwalya was more of a bigger star in Zambia if you like and like many people would endlessly debate, on the pitch, whenever the two played together for the Chipolopolo, Musonda did most of the dirty work with Bwalya’s being the end beneficiary.
And although Bwalya moved to PSV Eindhoven, he was not a regular there and was mostly in the shadows of Brazilian superstar Romario. Petty as it may sound—although true—in their playing days, there was a continuous fierce battle over who had a bigger name than the other. Admittedly, they are both Zambian legends in their own right.
Their nature did not help; Musonda is naturally an introverted and quiet person and less outgoing. Bwalya is the opposite. He is more charismatic, outgoing and charming.
At the height of Musonda’s injuries, with Bwalya fully aware, Kalusha would actually use the power of the media and his fame in Zambia to spread falsehoods that his colleague was falsifying injuries in order not to play for Zambia.
This forced Musonda to sometimes answer calls to the national team whilst injured and when he arrived in camp, Kalusha would then sometimes demand to the coaches that it’s either he played or Charles.
Sometimes, he would even impose it on the coaches to play his young brother Joel at the expense of Charles. Given his influence on the team as captain, and his popularity among Zambian fans, the coaches would have no choice but follow his commands.
That is where the story of Musonda being unpatriotic started. And it did not help matters that after the 1993 plane crash that wiped out the entire Zambia national side, falsehoods were again peddled against Musonda that he would never play for Zambia again (despite him turning up for the match against South Africa and Morocco) while Bwalya was painted as a darling of the fans who would carry on with the mantle.
The hate for Musonda in the eyes of Zambians would only escalate.
Musonda’s career unfortunately came to an abrupt end and cut a lonely figure for years in Belgium where he ended up being a youth coach at FC Ghent and Anderlecht. Zambia abandoned him despite picking his last injury on national duty. (That’s where the irony of being patriotic comes in. One is only patriotic when you play for Zambia; get injured and the same Zambia abandons you, that’s fine by our low standards!)
Very few Zambians would even want to know what he was up to but as God would have it, the Musonda legacy has been reborn through his sons Charly, Tika and Lamisha who are all budding footballers.
THE DYNAMICS AT PLAY
The government has introduced a diaspora policy which entails enticing Zambians that have dual nationalities to come back home and contribute their expertise in their areas of interest and specialisation.
The initiative follows the enactment of the new constitution which allows for dual nationality.
This is what culminated in sports minister Vincent Mwale and his delegation flying to London two weeks ago to have a meeting with Charles and his wife…to convince them and their children to contribute to the country’s football.
Sadly, in the eyes of FAZ, the minister’s trip was the work of their detractors, given the elective annual general meeting that will be held on March 19. FAZ are convinced that the issue of calling Musonda’s children to the national team was soon going to be a campaign issue for those bidding to replace them.
They feared their opponents would start telling councillors that if they are voted into power, they would immediately call for Charles Musonda and his sons’ involvement in Zambia’s football.
So FAZ decided to move ahead of their opponents (knowing very well that a lot of background work needed to be done before Charly Jr. could accept the call up).
And should he refuse, the next line would be to say ‘as FAZ, we have answered the cry of Zambians to call him up. And now, he has refused. He’s unpatriotic!’
In other words, FAZ and Kalusha have actually thrown a punch in the endless battle with Charles Musonda as well as his critics for the FAZ presidency. And naïve Zambian football fans have unknowingly been caught up.
If Kalusha really means well, he should be answering the following questions: when is the last time he ever spoke with Charles and did FAZ speak with the Musondas before the invitation to the national team was made public? Why was FAZ in such a hurry to announce the call up on their Facebook page?
And how about Kalusha own children—Sara and Olivia—with his first Dutch wife Erica; are they Zambian? Would Kalusha be willing for them to accept dual nationality and be willing to contribute to the Zambia’s growth if called upon?
WILL MUSONDA’S CHILDREN PLAY FOR ZAMBIA?
Realistically speaking, the Musondas will never play for Zambia especially if Bwalya remains president of FAZ .
Musonda can simply not entrust the welfare of his children with FAZ given the animosity that has existed between him and Kalusha.
The risks for Musondas are too many and the painful truth is that their careers stand to be rewarded more if they chose England or Belgium over Zambia.
The only remotest chance Zambia has to convince the Musondas to don national colours is if Kalusha was no longer FAZ president but that’s not possible either. He will never accept this but Kalusha’s entire life depends on being FAZ president including his marriage
In FAZ, he has unlimited access and full control of the purse strings. Unless he gets something more lucrative job say at FIFA or CAF, he will do anything to cling on to power in the name of being a patriotic Zambian and anyone who threatens his hold to power or legacy as the Musondas is ruthlessly dealt with.
The handling of Charly Jr’s call up so far has been bungled and it’s going as FAZ would have wanted it. The public is now talking and FAZ for now will be quiet.
The next time FAZ speak, they will say ‘‘as FAZ, we have answered the cry of Zambians to call him up. And now, he has refused. He’s unpatriotic!’ And the Zambian public, especially the Kalusha Bwalya brigade, will use emotion, and not reason, to hurt the Musondas even further. The will not even dare answering whether Bwalya wants his children to have anything to do with a country called Zambia.
LESSONS
Lessons can be drawn from this experience. When handling sensitive and highly emotive issues like this one, rushing to the media and going public before all T’s are cut and I’s dotted just renders such an exercise useless.
It’s like managing a mosquito: the only time you will learn never to use violence when chasing or killing a mosquito is when it bites your testicles.
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