Lebusa has no more reasons to doubt his abilities
He may not be a headline grabber, but since having become a regular fixture in the Urban Warriors’ starting XI, Mosa Lebusa rarely puts a foot wrong in the Ajax Cape Town defence.
Now in his third season with the club, the tall left-back has missed only three games in all competitions this season. Calm and focussed, with excellent technique, Lebusa reads the game well for a young man and is very much in the mould of a typical Ajax player, having developed quickly after spending much of his early years in the amateur ranks.
Lebusa has been in Cape Town since 2009, having joined as a 16-year-old after Ajax Head Scout John Rowley spotted him playing for fourth tier side Dinonyana in his home town of Welkom in the Free State. He spent three years with the Urban Warriors’ Under-19 or Reserve Team as they are referred to, before making the step up to the first team under the mentorship of former Ajax head coach Maarten Stekelenburg, who had previously been the club’s Head of Youth.
“I was with (current Ajax players) Travis Graham and Toriq Losper, while Tashreeq Morris and Bara (Abbubaker Mobara) joined the team later from the Under-17’s. When Maarten got the first team job he promoted me and Tokkie (Losper),” Lebusa told the Cape Times of his early days in the Mother City.
“When I got to the senior team, in 2012, I was nervous, you start doubting your abilities. But the guys motivated me and reminded me that I had been promoted for a reason – you’re not there by luck, but because you deserve to be there, so that helped me to relax and settle in. My first game was against SuperSport, in a 1-1 draw. The first 45 minutes, I was scared! I didn’t actually ask for the ball.
“But (former Bafana defender) Matthew Booth was alongside me, so he helped me a lot, he kept telling me to keep calm. In the second half I actually got better, I grew in confidence. I was marking Sibusiso Zuma, so that was a nice way to start my career.”
Lebusa went on the score twice in 15 league appearance for Ajax in his first season, with one goal particularly memorable to him: “When we played against Chippa United, the season when they got relegated, we were playing them here in Cape Town, and I scored my first league goal.
“We were actually fighting for relegation with them, down at the bottom. I was really happy – we were trailing 2-1, I scored the equalizer and we went on to win 3-2 and get away from the relegation zone.”
He featured in only 11 league games for the club in the 2013/ 2014 campaign, but has made the left-back posi- tion his own this season. Lebusa may have the likes of Aidan Jenniker and Milton Ncube also competing for his jersey, but he feels this is helping him to deliver on a consistent basis.
“Coach Roger (De Sa) gives everyone an equal chance, and when you get it, you have to grab it with both hands. I mean we have a fantastic squad with fantastic players, so you can’t afford to waste chances – the guys on the bench are hungry and ready to do the job if you slip up.”
Used primarily as a leftback, Lebusa has also played a couple of times in the centre of defence for Ajax and has designs on changing positions as he gains in experience and physicality. It’s no surprise then that the players he looks to for inspiration are both central defenders.
“I prefer playing at centreback, where you don’t have to run up and down the line a lot, and I think I am quite strong in the air. I enjoy watching Jan Vertonghen (of Belgium and Tottenham Hotspur), he’s a very good player. His distribution is amazing. He reads the game very well.
“Locally I like watching Tefu Mashamaite. When we played against Chiefs, the coach asked who is going to pick him up, and I said I would. I know he’s dangerous in the air, he’s deadly at set pieces. I wanted to feel what is was like to be close to him, how he moves and how he plays. I’m happy though to play wherever the coach wants me – as long as I keep getting gametime, I’m happy here, I can’t complain.”