Coach binned by home affairs
WHEN Simon Badibanga began coaching the University of the Witwatersrand basketball team in 2003, he felt he was finally living his dream.
The respected coach had moved to South Africa from the Democratic Republic of Congo 10 years earlier to start a new life with his family.
He took the team to new heights, but his dream began unravelling as he battled to renew his work visa and his children’s study visas and ultimately get permanent residence.
Laurent, Simon’s eldest son, said: “There would be delays or we would get short renewals . . . sometimes we were not given any reason, we would just get what was called a ‘must-leave’ notice.”
After a battle of more than 15 years with the Department of Home Affairs, including a court case, Simon, 70, and three of his adult children are now destitute, unable to earn an income and living off his girlfriend.
“I used to be somebody — they ruined me. Now they are ruining the future of my children,” said Simon.
The International Basketball Federation-accredited coach said he had gone from being a well-respected man to having nothing after losing his house and his wife.
“I have lost everything. My marriage also ended. The only thing that gets me by is faith.”
In 2012, Simon approached then public protector Thuli Madonsela’s office, which assisted in mediating with the department.
Home affairs spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete this week acknowledged the department had been involved in court action with the Badibangas, but said he could not comment on it. “The case is still ongoing and thus we are not in a position to discuss the merits thereof.”
Simon claims the department did not adhere to agreements made during a mediation process in 2012. The following year he took it to court.
Court papers show the Badibangas obtained an order in August 2013 in the High Court in Pretoria instructing home affairs to consider their application for permanent residence and “make a determination thereon within 30 days”. The following year they were back in court in a bid to get the department to comply.
Despite this, they say they have had no word from the department and Simon said they had no money to take the case further.
This week, one of Simon’s former Wits players, Quintin Denyssen, hailed him as “one of the best coaches on the continent”.
Denyssen added: “You can’t mention basketball in South Africa without mentioning Simon Badibanga.
“At Wits, we were lucky to have him and it was just two years after he had coached the Warriors, who were at the time league champions.
“Wits basketball was in the best shape when he was there — we were [in the] top three in the country, despite not having won a championship.”
Simon also coached the University of Johannesburg’s team in 2009, but had to resign when his papers expired.
“It’s been bad — not being able to finish school and to work,” said Laurent, 40, who had to drop out of his LLB course at UJ in 2012 when his study visa was not renewed.
“The papers from home affairs are what you need to be able to work. What makes it worse is that it is something that was agreed upon and they went back on it.”
Younger son Eugene, 35, managed to finish his honours in financial management at UJ before his visa expired, but is unable to work. The brothers get by doing odd jobs.
Simon said all he wanted was for justice to be done.
“I am an old man now but I would like to see my children become more than I have become.”
He is bitter at the “injustice” of the legal system. “We talk about state capture, but we are people who have been captured by people in authority.
“You wonder, is there any justice?”
They ruined me. Now they are ruining the future of my children