The trials and tribulations that Noah Chivuta went through after he was conned of his signing-on fee at Hellenic saw him go on to become teammates with Teko Modise on two different occasions in four years spent in the first division.
Chivuta was with Pietersburg Pillars, Dangerous Darkies, Maritzburg United, and City Pillars again from the 2002/03 season to May 2006.
Before moving to Bidvest Wits after which winning the league at SuperSport United and then representing Maritzburg United and Free State Stars sandwiched between lifting the 2012 Afcon trophy.
PART 1 | 'I was conned out of my first-ever PSL signing-on fee by an agent'
"At Pillars I played with Teko Modise through the two spells that I had with the Tzaneen club," Chivuta said.
"The first time that I went to Pillars (2002/03 season) from Hellenic it was because we heard that there was a millionaire (Robson Mongwe) looking for players and the manager at Hellenic suggested that I go there in a move that I had not initially agreed to.
"I had now been earning about R5 000 at Hellenic, but Mongwe told me straight away that I would earn R10 000. That kind of money made me understand why Shakes Kungwane, Joel Masilela and Papi Mbele had been brought in.
"Though I had been coming from a PSL club I became a small fish.
"The money that I had been promised was okay, but the professionalism left a lot to be desired which got me worried.
"As I had anticipated there were never-ending troubles, at times players would be locked out of their homes because rentals had not been paid while at times our cheques would bounce at the bank.
"Luckily, for me I had my own place while Teko stayed at a lodge during his time there because they loved him and bought him a gold Polo Playa.
"The owner also liked me, and I became close with Teko.
"But that didn't stop the inconsistencies around the salaries.
"At time you would go two to three months without being paid and when you met the boss and complain about not having food, he would just give you any amount he so decided be it R500, R1000 or R2000.
"He could pay all the players with envelopes and leave me and Teko out because he wanted us to come and see him.
"He did that because he used to give us money haphazardly, R1000, R2000, R2500, and R3000 so much that by the end of the month he would have given you more than the agreed salary making it difficult for you to then ask for your salary.
"The trouble was that you couldn't budget with such payments because you didn't even know when next he will give you money.
"We would go for three months without proper salaries.
"When his funeral parlour business wasn't doing well it meant he would disappear, and we would not even have water at training since he ran the team from his pocket.
"When travelling to games we had to pass at his house to get money for transport and accommodation.
"It was nice to play in that team because the boss had a good heart though salaries were a stress at times since at our salaries were dependent on how his business was doing.
"I used to travel by bus when going home to Zambia because the money for flying wasn't there and even if there it meant going to Johannesburg first.
"So, I would just wait in Polokwane and then hide myself when I get home because nobody had to know that I was a professional player travelling by bus from South Africa.
"Pillars was a crazy experience and it got me to understand how teams from Limpopo are run," Chivuta details adding on how his move to Bloemfontein Celtic failed.
"I signed with Celtic after they had been promoted in 2004, did the pre-season with them after having driven with all my belongings from Nelspruit where Darkies was based to Bloemfontein where I had even gotten a flat after moving from the hotel.
"I remember very well that I arrived at Celtic the same time as John Maduka and Richard Choruma and in my case Celtic even gave me a salary advance.
"With me I had left Darkies because they were giving me little money and I was under the impression that my contract had expired only to find out that they had an option.
"Darkies only said they had exercised the option after I had moved to Celtic.
"What was worse was that Darkies was having money issues and they owed me signing on fees from the previous season part of which they paid when I came back.
"Through that situation I got a phone call from the owner Robert Gumede who told me that my decision to leave was like a guy who is enjoying raping a woman and made it known to me that I won't play anywhere if I leave while I have a contract with Darkies.
"Jimmy Augousti never contested the matter because I think he knew about Gumede.
"At that time, I didn't even know about the Players' Union and started going to Legal Aid which was the worst decision because they just called Gumede who then told me that 'do you think those people can fight me'.
"I ultimately had to go stay but eight games into the season we were told the team has been sold.
"I was shocked that for all the trouble of the boss bringing me back he then sells the team two months later.
"The people that the team had been sold to just allowed whoever they felt they couldn't afford to just go, and I went to Maritzburg United who were under Boebie Solomons," added Chivuta.
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