Rejected left, right and centre

“I wanted to play for another big club between Chiefs and Pirates.”

“I even thought about going back to school because…”

Jabulani Shongwe is so well-travelled he could write a book about his experiences in football. His is a career that has delivered more than just a little less than what was expected when he broke into the scene at ALS Puk Tawana, that Mamelodi Sundowns feeder team which gained popularity due to their Nedbank Cup exploits. When the Brazilians snapped him up, the world was his oyster. Where and how exactly it went wrong is anyone’s guess, but moving from club to club after that stint in Tshwane, punctuated by spells of twiddling his thumbs at home without a club, is perhaps the biggest indication that South African football was robbed of seeing Jafefe, as the 32-year-old is fondly known, at his very best, consistently. Shongwe is currently at Venda Football Academy in the GladAfrica Championship, trying to repair the shattered pieces of his once-promising career. As narrated by the player himself to Soccer Laduma’s Masebe Qina, it’s an all-too-familiar tale of heartbreak, disappointment, rejection and redemption.

Masebe Qina: Jafefe, it’s been a while since we last spoke to you. How have you been?

Jabulani Shongwe:

To be honest, I am fine, bro wami (my brother), and I can’t complain about anything. It’s just that I have been unfortunate with not getting a club in the last few seasons. I would go and train with a club and when I am supposed to be signed, something comes up to jeopardise the deal. I also had a knee injury, which also disrupted my progress, but I have since recovered and I am fine now. It was an injury from my time with Royal AM and that’s why I didn’t finish the season with the team. I discussed the matter with the club and we reached an agreement that I should go home to recover fully. Sometimes when you are stressing, an injury can take longer than it should to heal and I wanted to avoid that and the best thing for me to do at the time was to go home and be around my family.

MQ: What were you stressing about?

JS:

I was stressing about the injury and the fact that the team was doing well and with a chance of winning promotion, and I wasn’t contributing anything.

MQ: This season, you’ve been with Venda Football Academy…

JS:

Things have been okay for someone who didn’t have a pre-season with the team. When I joined the club, the team must have already played three or four games. I made sure that I quickly adjusted to coach Johnny Ferreira and his technical team. I had to adjust to the lifestyle as well, as someone who lives in Jozi, to coming to Venda. But things are going well and there are no complaints. One thing I like about the club is that everybody gets treated in the same way and there are no favourites. Having said that, let me also take this opportunity to thank our club chairman (Itani Munzhelele) for giving me a chance to play in this great team and I am truly grateful to him. I am happy that the club brought me here so that I could share my experience with the younger players. There are so many good players here who previously didn’t play professional football and I am happy to be part of the team. I have been getting gametime and I am enjoying it. We have a chance of winning the league and going to the PSL (DStv Premiership). We just have to be there for each other all the time and remain focused on the task at hand.

MQ: Let’s talk about your career. It’s been a while since you last played in the topflight. Why?

JS:

Sometimes izinto azihambi (things don’t go) the way ofuna ngakhona (you want). Obviously, I wanted to play in the PSL for longer than I did, but things didn’t go according to plan. I have had coaches telling me that they were impressed with what they saw in me, only for the deal to fall through when it was time for me to be signed. Only God knows why things happened the way they did. Maybe whatever happened was a blessing in disguise in order for me to be where I am today. I won’t cry that I am not in the PSL because I’m playing where I am and I know that I’m a good

player. I wouldn’t know why things happened the way they did and all that I had to do was to have faith in God. As much as it is my wish to play in the PSL again, I am comfortable where I am and maybe this is my chance of going to the PSL with this club (if we get promoted). I’m just happy that VFA were willing to give me a chance after so many rejections at other clubs and I am willing to repay the faith that the club had in me.

MQ: Doesn’t it hurt to see some of your former teammates playing week in and week out in the topflight?

JS:

Obviously, there will always be those moments where you feel like, ‘Eish, I wished that it was me’, but then again, I have to be realistic and realise that I am not there. But because I’m a human being, I do feel sad at times, but that doesn’t mean that I’m jealous of the guys who are playing in the PSL. I support them. Whenever I get a chance, I do wish some of the guys well for their games. Maybe my chance to play in the PSL again will come and all that I am grateful for at the moment is that I do have a club. That is what is important for me. If I was sitting at home, it would have been a different story.

MQ: Who are some of your former teammates that you are still in contact with?

JS:

I still talk to “Mshishi” (Themba Zwane), Bongani Zungu and Buhle Mkhwanazi. I am also close to Happy (Jele) and Kabelo Mahlasela, and the guys have been motivating me to keep pushing. Mahlatse Makudubela is another one that I speak to quite often and it’s always nice to hear the guys telling me that they believe that I’m still a good player.

MQ: How do you feel about how your career has gone, Jafefe?

JS:

I feel like at some point, I was happy with my career, especially in the beginning. But I also feel like at some point, I disappointed myself with how my career has gone. I feel like I should have been at the top. I remember that there were so many people who liked me as a player and were happy with what I did, but the way my career has gone, I feel like I disappointed myself and I believe that I should have been far. But I don’t blame myself because if I can have negative thoughts now, that thing would end up killing me. I have seen players getting depressed and some even giving up and I didn’t want any of that to happen to me. Had I fallen into that trap, I would have ended up disappointing many people, especially my family and my children. I wouldn’t want my kids to see me being beaten up in taverns and things like that, and that’s why I’m saying giving up is not an option for me. I always knew that I would eventually get a club and sometimes we need these setbacks for us to come back strongly. Fortunately for me, I have a manager who is very supportive in Jazzman (Mahlakgane). But honestly speaking, I wish I was on another level with my football career, maybe overseas or being like abo (the likes of) Mshishi. If I can get another chance to play at the highest level, I wouldn’t want to disappoint myself or my family.

MQ: You are mentioning the word ‘disappoint’ quite often. In what way did you let yourself down?

JS:

I think the problem for me started before I left Wits for Golden Arrows. Before that loan move to Arrows, I had a lot of offers from clubs, including from Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, but because I still had a contract with Wits, I was not in control. When the move to any of those clubs didn’t happen, it killed my spirit. I was asking myself so many questions as to why other players were allowed to move when they had offers but for me it was different. I wanted a change and I wanted to be in a different environment and when that didn’t happen, I struggled to cope. Wits was not a small club, and having previously played for (Mamelodi) Sundowns, I wanted to play for another big club between Chiefs and Pirates. I know that both those teams wanted me and when that didn’t happen, I was demoralised, although I tried to remain strong. I did well at Arrows and I remember the club’s coach at the time, Clinton Larsen, wanted to sign me permanently. But that didn’t happen and I went to Chippa United, where I stayed for only six months and from there, I could see that my career wasn’t progressing. From there, I went to Highlands Park for four months andcoachOwen(daGama)washappy with me, but when I was about to be signed, a lot of things happened. From there, I went to Swallows FC and there were issues there as well. I had trained for only a week with Swallows when coach Brandon Truter told me that he wanted to sign me. I remember that we had played a friendly game against Chiefs when the coach told me that he wanted to sign me. I did well in that game and when I didn’t sign with the club, it broke my heart and I was disappointed in myself to say that maybe there was something I wasn’t doing right.

MQ: Must have been a tough period for you. So, did any of these experiences make you want to quit the game?

JS:

There were moments like that and I just wanted to chill. I even thought about going back to school because I do have matric, so I was thinking of furthering my studies. I was thinking to myself that maybe football was not my thing anymore. At the time, I felt like everybody was against me as I was getting rejected left, right and centre and seriously considered quitting the game. At that point, I had also stopped watching football on television and wanted nothing to do with it. I had decided to spend most of my time with my children. I had a conversation with my manager and I told him, “Ta Jazz, mina ngamla (me, boss), I don’t want to play football anymore because it hurt me so much.” Jazzman was against it and said if I quit football because of clubs that were rejecting me, it meant that I would always quit and wouldn’t finish the things I start. He advised me to face my challenges head-on and that is what I did, and I am grateful to him for the advice. ❐