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“Khwenenyane used to wear a G-string.” “Anecdotes were his thing.”

Elasto Kapowezha, a midfielder, came from Zimbabwe to join AmaZulu in 1997. He played for a number of clubs in his career, including Lech Poznan in Poland, and retired in 2012 after having been on the books of FC AK in the National First Division for six years. “I feel that I needed to give other players a chance. I knew what I wanted to do and I think it was an overdue retirement. I could have carried on for three more seasons, but I needed to make sure the guys coming up got an opportunity to play,” he says. Hi, Elasto. Some of our readers will remember that you went by the name Elasto Lungu for the most part of your playing dcareer. Why the change to Kapowezha? Well, my father, who is a legend of Zimbabwean football, used ‘Lungu’ as a surname; that is our middle name as a family. Seeing he was a famous footballer, when I started playing myself, I was always referred to as Ephert Lungu’s son and I started using ‘Lungu’. After the introduction of names on the back of jerseys, this presented a problem of sorts with some of the referees because my full name on my playing card, as well as on my passport and other documentation I used, was Elasto Lungu Kapowezha. Lungu, just on its own, raised the alarm bells, and the refs used to tell me, “No, no, no, it must be Kapowezha at the back.” I think, eventually, I just had to correct it. If you go to Zimbabwe right now and you ask for Ephert Lungu, they’ll point you to my father, but if you say Ephert Kapowezha, they might say, “We don’t know that person!” Ha, ha. Okay, your first team in South Africa was AmaZulu... Yes, I joined them in 1997. I had been playing for Black Aces back home in Zimbabwe, a team well known for producing good players. Lawrence Ngubane, who had joined AmaZulu as general manager, came to watch the national team, who were playing a friendly game against us. He saw me playing and liked what he saw. He approached me after the game and said, “Look, you need to come to Durban in a few weeks’ time.” The rest is history. I thought AmaZulu was one of the well-run, professional outfits and that is why they had the likes of Ngubane, who had come from Orlando Pirates, who had won the CAF Champions League. You could see that AmaZulu were trying to build a very good team, hence they mandated Ngubane to go out and find good players. Well, I wasn’t the only one who was selected on that particular day, as Ngubane was also impressed with Stewart Murisa and Alois Bunjira, but the latter instead joined Free State Stars. Sure. In fact, Murisa was my roommate in camp and he was always a character. He would just excite us with his jokes. But I also had other very good friends that enjoyed my company and those were Wonder Ngcoya and Kamaal Sait. There were different characters in the team. Edries Burton was one of the senior players and he was reserved andan very focused.ocuse Davidav Solopioop joinedone us later on and he would light up the mood. We also had the mfundisi (pastor), Pelewe Delamogo, who made sure we kept to the instructions of the Bible. Simon Magagula and Joel Mlaba also enjoyed a lighter moment or two. I also played with Naughty Mokoena and Sidwell Maboe. Naughty was naughty and sometimes he would do things that other players wouldn’t dare do. One day we were being transported to training and the driver went out to buy something at the filling station shop. Guess what, Naughty just took over and drove us to training, leaving the driver behind, ha, ha, ha. He lived up to his name. But that was a fantastic player and I enjoyed playing with him. He was something else.

I then left after we got relegated in 2000, to join Ria Stars. I almost signed for Hellenic though... on my way to Johannesburg to meet Sello ‘Chicco’ Twala and Sis Ria Ledwaba (Ria Stars directors), I got a call from Gavin Hunt, saying, “Come to Cape Town.” I told him that Ria Stars had made a strong offer and he gave me his blessings to play my football there. Manyora was a completely new environment. Sis Ria was very passionate about football and it was the first timeme I hada a femaleemae boss.oss Wee hada thee likes es of Frank Makua, the late Thabang Lebese, Lucky Lekgwathi and Thapelo Liau – it was a team full of these upcoming stars together with experienced players. At one stage, we made more than 25 consecutive passes against Kaizer Chiefs at Ellis Park. That was unheard of, to make the mighty Amakhosi chase for the ball! That team must have been home to characters of note. Oh, we had plenty! The two that come to mind are Timothy ‘RDP’ Nkosi and Abram Khwenenyane.wenenyane I rememrememberer Khwenenyane wenenyane used to wear a G-string before matches and he always used to make sure that we saw what he was wearing underneath his pants. It was very funny because he was this big, big goalkeeper. I won’t forget that. I was staying in the same complex with Makua. He’d just bought a car but didn’t have a driver’s licence yet. We were going to training and obviously the man couldn’t drive. We came to a little bit of a hill and the car just got stuck. I had to go out and try to redirect traffic. We couldn’t move away from where we were because Makua couldn’t get the right combinations in terms of changing gears. It was a new VW Golf IV and we never arrived at training! There was also Jacob Sakala... I think anyone who has worked with coach Sakala would agree that there is no dull moment with him. He would always be in a joyful mood, win or lose. His team talks veered away from football matters and he was a good storyteller. Anecdotes were his thing, that we’d ask him, “Are we still going to play football, coach?” At times, you felt you were going to star in a movie... Did you ever encounter muti in football?

At Ria Stars, I remember there was the issue of a tie that we had to jump over in the change room. We also had to fit it on our ankles and knees. I didn’t understand what was the significance of this tie. At AmaZulu, it was worse. I remember we were going to play the semi-final of the Bob Save Super Bowl at Loftus Stadium. We were in camp and all was hunky-dory. Just as we finished our prayers and prepared for the pre-match meal, we saw this man coming towards us, with ribbons in his possession. He instructed Delamogo to tie them to his wrists and ankles. Delamogo, a staunch Christian, professed, “No, no, no, we don’t do such things here. We were praying just now.” The man responded, “I’m also a pastor.” We asked him, “If you are a pastor, then why are you bringing ribbons that you want the goalkeeper to tie himself with?” So those things used to happen, my brother. Tell us about your most embarrassing moment. There’s a match that we (Ria Stars) played against Orlando Pirates in one of the cup competitions. It was a high-scoring game and I scored an own goal. It was in a critical moment where the team had come back from 2-0 down to make it 2-2. I just happened to turn where I wasn’t supposed to turn, in the six-yard box, and there was my compatriot Innocent Chikoya lurking, and he went on to score. It looked so bad! Even when we talk about the good old days, Chikoya always tells me, “You gave me that ball! You gave it to me!” I felt that I had let down my teammates and it took me some time to get over that one. I was a very reliable player, but that day, I just lost it... I didn’t know where I was, ha, ha. Thanks for walking down memory lane with us, Elasto. Thanks. It’s always a pleasure, guys.