Teko stands by his muthi story
Veteran footballer says book a true cover of his life
Teko Modise’s new book had the potential to be even more controversial, but the Cape Town City midfielder said that would have defeated its purpose.
The former Sundowns star has penned a memoir, The Curse of Teko Modise, authored by journalist Nikolaos Kirkins.
It was launched on Tuesday in Rosebank, where former greats Jomo Sono, Shakes Mashaba and Doctor Khumalo were in attendance. During the launch Modise, 34, claimed he was ill-treated at his former club, Orlando Pirates where, he said, they used to “bath a lot” in reference to the use of muti.
“The club is not going to entertain tha,” said Bucs media officer Thandi Merafe.
The General, however, said he won’t be losing sleep over those who will be offended.
“Those are the kind of things that come with writing your own story. Some people will feel some way, but I’m just being as honest as I can. If they want to look at me funny, that’s okay. This is my story,” Modise insisted.
Apart from the muti claims, he’s received a backlash for laying bare his tension-filled relationship with his former coach at Mamelodi Sundowns, Pitso Mosimane.
Modise said he had to cut out a lot of things from the book to ensure he didn’t reduce it to just controversy.
“The book is meant to try to inspire the younger ones, to make them understand the situations that we [footballers] go through while they see us as superheroes,” he said.
“There are so many controversial things we could have included, but that would have shifted the whole purpose of the book.” Unlike most biographies, Modise’s book doesn’t contain any pictures.
“I want you to feel my words – the pain that I went through. Some people may think ‘he got things on a silver platter’, not knowing actually that certain things can make someone end their life based on depression,” he explained.
The Curse of Teko Modise is available at Exclusive Books countrywide for R206