Ventersdorp’s new favourite son
Through sheer determination Khune has lived his dream as a Chiefs and Bafana great
WHEN heari ng “Ve n t e r s d o r p ” , and the discussion on what the North West town is best known for, the lady at the adjacent table pipes up, “for the man who fell off his horse”.
Itumeleng Khune smiles, yes Ventersdorp will always be synonymous with Eugene Terre’Blanche, but Khune is its modern-day “favourite son”.
The Kaizer Chiefs and Bafana Bafana captain knows ET’s horse well, he has encountered it first-hand.
“When I was about 7 years old, my mom Flora and I were getting some things at the Spar supermarket in town, when Terre’Blanche came inside the shop on his horse. He galloped through the store, while someone filled his basket for him. It freaked me out. He really thought he owned the town, and that he could do as he wished,” says Khune.
The next time he encountered ET not long after was far scarier.
“Back then we watched TV using a car battery. When it ran low, a friend and I went to the garage to charge it and on our way we encountered Terre’Blanche at a four-way stop in his bakkie, with his dog on the back. He stopped in front of us and yelled at his dog to tear us apart.
“He did not want to see black people and when he came across any, he would send his dog to chow us. Luckily that day, there were traffic cops across the road and we were spared… but it was not a nice experience.”
Ventersdorp needed a new reference point to shed its AWB stigma, and in Khune it could not have asked for a better poster boy.
Relaxing this week at Tashas on Sandton’s Nelson Mandela square, Khune came across assured and relaxed.
He’s tall, not quite as tall as Madiba but also has great stature and presence, and a maturity and wisdom.
It’s hard to fathom that he will only tur n 30 later this month. “Itu” seems to have been around as a flamboyant leader on the football pitch for many years. At his relatively tender age, he’s already played more than 270 times for the fabled Kaizer Chiefs and has amassed 82 caps for the national team he leads.
His road to professional football is an often-told one, but one worth telling again and again.
When he arrived for trials at Kaizer Chiefs in 1999, he started out as a defender and passed the trials by Chiefs’ renowned development coach Terror Sephooa. He passed again as a striker, but was dealt a hammer blow when chest problems and severe cramps put paid to any career as an outfielder.
“As a young boy, I dreamt of playing for Chiefs… I was devastated, but refused to give up.”
Told by Sephooa that his Chiefs journey was over, he stuck around, and stood behind the goals at every training session, and with his bare hands dived and threw himself at every ball that came his way behind the posts. Such was his dogged deter mination, that he eventually made it as goalkeeper in the club’s under-13 team.
His younger brothers Jacob and Lucky also became versatile players, and Khune was proud to reveal they followed in the footsteps of their truck driver father Elias “who used to bang in those goals”. Khune’s become one of South Africa’s most recognisable and marketable sports stars. He is proud of his journey, but has lots of milestones still to chalk up.
He has committed to being a one-club man at Chiefs.
“To achieve what I have means the world to me. So many players dream of getting the opportunity to play for Chiefs and I take my responsibilities as an ambassador for the club seriously. I’m not a club legend just yet but it’s something I aspire to.
“I am happy to give people my time, they deserve it. Without them I would not be where I am today,” Khune says, as he politely accommodates requests for his picture in the busy mall.
He’s had a good spell too as Bafana Bafana goalkeeper and captain, the stand-out walking on to the pitch at Soccer City for the “breathtaking” opening match of the 2010 Fifa World Cup and bursting into tears as his good friend and club and national teammate Siphiwe Tshabalala scored that sensational goal.
An appearance at the 2016 Rio Oympics and keeping a clean sheet against Neymar and home team Brazil in the tournament’s opening game is another of his major highlights.
“As a young boy I dreamt of playing one game for Bafana. I’ve now played 82 and will cherish every one for the the rest of my life. I’ve now set a new target and want to get to 108 (the current record holder Aaron Mokoena has 107 caps),” Khune says.For now, he’s hoping for a ring of steel from his Bafana defence as they face old foes Nigeria away next Saturday in their opening 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier with coach Stuart Baxter at the helm.
gainst the Super Eagles, pressure is guaranteed, luckily Khune enjoys his kitchen hot.