Nomads apologise to witchdoctor

In a rather bizarre development, Mighty Wanderers supporters committee was forced to apologise to a witchdoctor whom they believed bewitched the club after one of their members beat him up at Mzuzu Stadium after the Moyale game at the end of August.

It is said that Nomads supporters committee vice-chairperson for the South, Onani Chaponda, confronted and beat up Alex Mkandawire for allegedly performing charms to prevent the Nomads from scoring.

Speaking from Mzuzu ahead of Sunday’s Standard Bank Knockout Trophy quarter-final match against Red Lions, Mkandawire confirmed that his parents indeed performed the charms a couple of weeks ago after they were angered by Chaponda’s act.

“The incident occurred just after Wanderers’ 2-0 loss to Moyale at Mzuzu Stadium. When I reported the matter to my parents, they became angry.

“My parents declared that from then on Wanderers would have a rough ride. It was all done out of anger, but Wanderers is my team and when their [supporters committee chairperson] Yona Malunga and [supporters] adviser Anthony Nyasulu apologised on behalf of the club, my parents understood and withdrew the charms and got an assurance that they would win against Red Lions,” said Mkandawire.

While confirming confronting Mkandawire, Chaponda denied beating him.

“I only asked him if the reports were true, but it is not true that I beat him up,” said Chaponda.

Nomads general secretary David Kanyenda yesterday said he could neither deny nor confirm the issue. He referred  this reporter to Malunga.

Malunga and Nyasulu confirmed apologising to Mkandawire after realising that the juju claims were real.

“At first, we thought it was a joke, but we later realised that it was real because since then, we played about six to seven games without scoring. That is when we thought it wise to contact Mkandawire and ask for forgiveness,” said Malunga.

Asked to confirm Mkandawire’s claims that prior to the incident, it was his family that was providing charms to the Nomads, Malunga laughed and said: “Let me not comment on that, it is an internal issue, but we do get personal services such as medicine for illness.”