The Sunday Mail
Langton Nyakwenda
WARRIORS and Polokwane City star keeper George Chigova has welcomed Dominic Chungwa at Rise and Shine and believes the former Caps United marksman will make an instant impact at the ABSA Premiership side.
The 31-year-old Chungwa sealed a three-year deal with Polokwane last Friday and joins fellow Zimbabweans Walter Musona and Chigova who has since developed into a key player at the Limpopo club.
Chungwa’s goalscoring instincts in the just-ended season, in which he banged in 17 goals for Makepekepe to clinch the Castle Lager Golden Boot award, have finally earned him the long cherished move beyond the country’s borders.
“This is nice, that’s all I can say,” Chungwa told The Sunday Mail from South Africa yesterday. And Chigova, who has been at Polokwane City since July 2015, is convinced Chungwa will settle quickly and improve the Limpopo club’s scoring record.
Polokwane lie 13th on the 16-team ABSA Premiership table, having scored 14 goals in 14 matches at an average of one goal per match.
“Polokwane City are a very good club in terms of the team’s culture, so I don’t doubt that Chungwa will settle here fast,” said Chigova yesterday.
“I am sure he will contribute a lot, score goals for the club and improve his CV.” Chungwa is expected to partner Rodney Ramagalela, who is the ABSA Premiership’s leading scorer with eight goals.
According to reports from South Africa, Polokwane are already working round the clock to register Chungwa – who has been described as a highly rated striker – in time for their match against log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on January 6.
Chungwa’s move brings the number of Zimbabweans plying their trade in the ABSA Premiership to 22, excluding Michelle Katsvairo, who has been loaned to Tanzanian side Sighida by Kaizer Chiefs. Caps United legend Alois Bunjira, who worked with Chungwa prior to the 2017 season, however, thinks the striker needs to improve his runs into the box if he is to make an impact in the SA league.
“I am very happy that Dominic has signed for Polokwane. I have worked with him and I am happy he obliged. We agreed that he should challenge himself to be top scorer in Zimbabwe and he did it. But I think to make it in SA and continue notching in goals he still needs to improve his runs into the box.
“Technically he is good, if only he remembers how to make decoy runs into the box and then strike, he will make it,” said Bunjira, who also had a stint in South Africa in the late 1990s. Chungwa rose to national prominence in February 2013 when he joined Caps United after scoring 36 goals for Eastern Region Division One side Hippo Valley the previous season.
He moved to Dynamos in January 2015 but rejoined Makepekepe after only six months.
