Chipolopolo and Leicester City striker Patson Daka on Thursday faced criticism on Facebook after sharing photos from his holiday in South Africa.
Daka shared pictures from his vacation in Cape Town with the caption, “until next time SA.”
That did not sit well with some of his followers who thought it was disrespectful and insensitive given that the nation was mourning the loss of his former teammate, Justin Shonga who died on Sunday.
Following the backlash, the Chipolopolo talisman has written an apology:
“𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞. 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐦𝐲 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮. “
Shonga was a former Chipolopolo forward who died at the age of 27 after a short illness in Lusaka.
He was put to rest today in Chipata.
Shonga who also played for Nkwazi and Orlando Pirates, earned 33 international caps for Zambia and scored 16 goals.
He was the second highest scorer for Zambia in the last decade after Daka (21).
