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Masibusane Zongo says he made a mistake by not fully communicating his whereabouts with Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila.
The former Platinum Stars, SuperSport United and Chippa United winger recently left his GladAfrica Championship side to attend a number of cultural events with his family.
While the 30-year-old had initially got permission to be away, he was reported as AWOL after failing to return on the agreed date.
The club released a statement saying Zongo had failed to report for training, having just been given the weekend off.
Speaking to KickOff, he apologised for his error, saying: "The news that I went AWOL hurt me and my family so much. I could not understand the motive behind it.
"The fact of the story is that I spoke to the club four or five days before we left for Cape Town to play Cape Umoya to ask permission to stay behind because I wanted to attend traditional stuff to do with my daughter in Cape Town.
"You know the issue of cultural stuff can't finish in one day. It took a few more days than anticipated. I had to stay for more days in Cape Town.
"The only mistake I made was not communicating with the club. That was a mistake I made. I came back on a Friday night after landing at OR Tambo around 21:00 because my flight left Cape Town at 19:00. I slept over in Johannesburg because there were no taxis to Limpopo."
He added: "The statement [from TTM] that I went AWOL was blown out of proportion. As much as I was wrong, I believe it should have been handled in a better way than to ruin my reputation.
"Before that incident I never had any issues in the club. You can call them. With just one issue it's very sad that it can ruin all the hard work I have put in to bring back my career."
- TEAMtalk media
