Hard to talk football after Fleurs murder
There’s a dark cloud hanging over the South African football fraternity following the brutal murder of Kaizer Chiefs defender Luke Fleurs on Wednesday night.
According to police, the 24-year-old was killed during a botched hijacking while at a petrol station in Honeydew, Johannesburg.
It’s hard to even think or talk about the beautiful game in this week’s Football Digest when a life was taken at such a young age.
Although he had not yet made an official appearance for Amakhosi, Fleurs still had a lot to offer. Serious questions need to be asked about crime in this country because no one is safe.
According to the third quarter crime statistics for 2023-2024 that were released in February this year by police minister Bheki Cele, murder cases registered between October and December 2023 stood at 7 710, which was an increase from 7 555 during the same period in the previous year.
It’s Fleurs today and tomorrow it might be you. No one is safe and the former SuperSport United centre-back is the latest victim to fall prey to criminals who act with such impunity.
These brazen acts of criminality have me questioning whether or not South Africa has become a lawless country.
In most countries, an arrest would have been made already considering that the crime took place in a public space that in all likelihood has CCTV footage.
We have become so used to high levels of crime that this story will be old news next week. The football community is calling for justice. The family of Fleurs deserves justice for what happened to their son.
Most footballers beat the odds to make it out of their impoverished communities in order to create a better life for themselves and football is their only way out.
To be able to earn a living from playing football is a dream only a few get to realise. To have that dream taken away in such a barbaric manner is unfair and cruel.
Fleurs was part of South Africa’s under-23 team that represented the country at the Tokyo Olympics. He was a national asset and he would have eventually broken into the Bafana Bafana set-up.
Crime has robbed us of yet another young talent after Stellenbosch FC’s Oshwin Andries was stabbed to death last year at the tender age of 19.
Fleurs was on his way to resurrecting his career with arguably the biggest football club in the country and one of last posts on social media after signing for Chiefs was captioned “dreams to come true”. It’s so sad that the Olympian never got to realise his dream of donning the famous black and gold of Amakhosi.
While police investigate, his former team-mates can honour his legacy by dedicating the remainder of what has been a poor 2023-24 season to him.
As a football writer that followed Fleurs’ career from Ubuntu Football Academy, I can only offer my condolences to his family and team-mates. May his soul rest in peace and I pray that justice will be served.