Congolese champions TP Mazembe are paying the price for their President Moïse Katumbi’s will to fight for democracy and liberation of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mazembe who have been crowned African champions five times, are DR Congo’s perennial continental football representives yet do not receive any form of support from its nation or government.
Republican President Fèlix Tshisekedi has extended his political rivalry with Katumbi onto Mazembe.
Speaking when he featured on a sports show on TOP Congo FM, Mazembe General Secretary Frédéric Kitengie revealed that Mazembe had gone without receiving funding from government for the past three years.
“I confirm that TP Mazembe is the only Congolese club which represents DR Congo in CAF competitions which has not received state subsidies in the last 3 years. And I challenge anyone to deny me” Kitengie said.
Kitengie added that while Mazembe had been cut off from government support while President Tshisekedi had been instructing government structures to provide funding to other clubs for the recruitment of players.
“Besides, it’s not a secret. Just two or three days ago, the head of the state himself declared that he had recruited a player for a local club and that he said that the government had to pay, perhaps he himself would pay” he said.
“Today, the Congolese state owes more than 8 million dollars to TP Mazembe. Since Nicolas Kazadi has been Minister of Finance, he has never signed the slightest expenditure for TP Mazembe. We are not out of breath, far from it. We are fighting against this injustice.”
Meanwhile, Kitengie also brought to light the challenges the Mazembe has been put through by the authorities who have denied the club’s chartered flight permits.
“Put yourself in our place please. When we play against FC Nouadhibou, this team arrives in Lubumbashi with their private plane. When we played against Pyramids FC, after the Saturday match, they returned directly to Cairo because their plane was waiting for them there at Luano airport. When we play against Mamelodi Sundowns, they came with a private flight waiting for them at the airport but when it comes to TP Mazembe, the ANR refuses” he said.
