Benjani Mwaruwari has revealed that his first name came as a result of a wrong entry when his father went to do his birth certificate.

The former Warriors captain’s name at birth was Mpenjani, but due to his father’s foreign accent, the pronunciation sounded like Benjani.

The ex-Manchester City and Portsmouth striker made these revelations on Marawa Sports Worldwide show on Metro FM. He also explained why several people mistook his name as Benjamin.

“My name, actually, is Mpenjani. My father is from Malawi, so the pronunciation is not that great,” he said.

“When he went to do my birth certificate, they thought he said Benjani. So on my birth certificate, it is written Benjani.

“And when I was playing in Zimbabwe, the person who was writing the team-card didn’t look properly at my birth certificate. He thought Benjani was Benjamin, that is how this name Benjamin came from.

“Everyone in Zimbabwe knew me as Benjamin and also in South Africa.”

Mwaruwari went on to explain why European clubs put Benjani on his shirt instead.

“In France, it was difficult for them to pronounce my surname – Mwaruwari, it was too big. So my coach said: ‘This one is easy, let’s just put Benjani’.

“They got it right because they saw it (from my documents) written Benjani.”