Highly paid Bafana Bafana midfield dynamo Bongani Zungu almost scored a jaw-dropping financial own goal that may have seen his name being written on the scoreboard of the blacklisted.
Zungu, who earns a whopping R368 000 a month at his French football club Amiens, had fallen behind on the bond payments for his South African house.
The embarrassing tidbits came to the fore after Standard Bank took the matter to the Joburg High Court on November 22. But the star saved his house from being attached at the eleventh hour when he settled the arrears of the property.
In the papers, Standard Bank lawyers Strauss Daly said the former Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder received a R1 120 000 loan from the bank, which he used to purchase a townhouse in Terenure Estate in Kempton Park, Gauteng, on August 15 2014.
Zungu was expected to pay over R15 000 in installments over 240 months. But the marksman defaulted for 12 months and was over
R156 000 in arrears.
The bank lawyers tried without success on several occasions to reach out to Zungu telephonically and wrote a letter to him on July 10 this year notifying him to settle the arrears. But despite renting out the property and collecting payment from his tenant, Zungu failed to do so.
“The plaintiff placed 36 telephone calls to the defendant to discuss bringing the defendant’s arrears under the loan agreement to date. The plaintiff’s attorneys attempted to reach a payment arrangement with the defendant on four separate occasions,” read the papers.
“The plaintiff [also] transmitted 20 text messages to the defendant, requesting the defendant to bring his arrears up to date, alternatively to contact the plaintiff to conclude a payment arrangement.
“The defendant had failed to make payment of the full monthly installment amount due under the loan agreement and was consequently in breach of the loan agreement. The defendant first fell into arrears… on or about 31 May 2018.”
The papers also said they asked Zungu’s mother to give them his direct contact details in France but she refused to do so. The bank had asked the court to grant it an order declaring the property executable and a writ of execution to attach and auction the townhouse off.
Thulani Thuswa of Tyler Masons Management said Zungu was in arrears but he settled it after being alerted by the bank’s lawyers.
“It was a clear mix-up and a lack of communication as his account couldn’t be debited because he changed his banking details when he moved to France.”
By Ngwako Malatji
