Times Of Swaziland: LINDO SHINES IN ZESCO UTD DEBUT

LINDO SHINES IN ZESCO UTD DEBUT
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Machawe Fakudze on 06/02/2023 08:29:00


MBABANE – Eswatini international Lindo Mkhonta has excelled in his debut away
in Zambia.
The Sihlangu captain and former Young Buffaloes captain made his debut on
Saturday afternoon when Zesco United took on Green Eagles. The veteran, who was
given jersey 25, started the game in his normal position as a right-back.  The
game was abandoned five minutes before the hour mark at Zesco’s Levy Mwanawasa
Stadium due to a heavy downpour on Saturday. At the stoppage time, he had
already risen to the occasion by providing an assist of the first goal. Chanda
Mukuka broke the deadlock two minutes into the game. The nine-time Zambian Super
League champions ended up winning the match 3-0 after it was continued yesterday
morning. They jumped from the 11th to eighth spot in the Zambia Super League,
just 12 points adrift of log leaders Power Dynamos.
Late last month, it was reported that Mkhonta (32) had secured a deal in Zambia.
The deal is said to be over E200 000. He reportedly put pen to paper in a deal
that will see him spend three years at  the top Zambian outfit, Zesco United,
just three days before the closing of the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ)
transfer window period. While he is not the only local star to play outside the
country in recent times, he is the first to come from the army side’s history.
Mkhonta was their captain and trusted right back even at senior national team
Sihlangu ahead of this breakthrough, which means he must also take a three-year
unpaid leave from his employment in the army.
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That is what former Royal Leopard winger Bonginkosi ‘Manyovu’ Dlamini did
when he was signed for two years by Angola’s Sagrada’s Esperanca last
January, in a deal that was cut short a few months later. Mkhonta is the second
Eswatini international after Justice Figuareido, who is with South Africa’s
Cape Town All Stars in the second tier league. The most recent internationals
who, however, returned home in 2020 are former Mbombela United and TS Sporting
stars Banele ‘Pupu’ Sikhondze, Felix Badenhorst (rejoined Mbabane Swallows),
Banele ‘Stiga’ Ndzabandzaba (joined Mbabane Highlanders) and Sanele Mkhweli
(joined Highlanders last season before being offloaded this season) as well as
Sabelo ‘Sikhali’ Ndziniza, who spent two seasons with Highlanders then
joined Green Mamba this season.