According to recent reports, Sekhukhune management was apparently growing frustrated at Shonga’s off-field antics, with some allegations suggesting he had arrived at training under the influence of alcohol.
Three club sources reportedly confirmed as much to FARPost, which seemed to have added to a history of issues, which included being suspended by former club Orlando Pirates after breaking the Biologically Safe Environment (BSE) protocol related to Covid-19 safety protocols.
However, according to KickOff.com, Babina Noko head coach MacDonald Makhubedu has refuted the reports that Shonga was in hot water at Sekhukhune.
“Shonga has done nothing wrong and we are happy to have him and he’s a very disciplined player, a leader in the dressing room,” Makhubedu insisted.
“We were also surprised by what we read in the papers, that’s new to us as our team is very, very professional. The likes of Shonga are my senior players and they look after my dressing room.
“So whether he is in Saturday’s team or not it will have nothing to do with anything that was written about him.
“He will never come to training drunk. He lived in an Arabic country you must remember (playing for Ismailly in Egypt), he was not going to survive a month there if he had a drinking problem.
“Shonga looks after our dressing room so there’s nothing like that, I’m always at training sessions. We don’t have cases of ill-discipline at Sekhukhune, we look after our boys.
“He’s there in our plans for Kaizer Chiefs, it only depends on if he is going to be in the 20, but he’s in the 26, he trained well yesterday, it’s just that he hasn’t been scoring lately but he is a very important member of the club.
JUSTIN SHONGA HAS SCORED TWICE THIS SEASON
He has scored two goals and provided one assist in 10 DStv Premiership matches this season.
Sekhukhune United are currently 10th in the DStv Premiership standings.
Sekhukhune United’s final two matches of the season are home against Kaizer Chiefs (Saturday, 14 May) and away to Marumo Gallants (Saturday, 21 May).