So, you made the team for the first time at Silver Stars, but disappointingly, didn’t get to feature even though the team was leading 4-1. What happened next? THAPELO LESHABANE 2)

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Then the next game, we went to Polokwane to play Dynamos. I remember we were playing at Peter Mokaba Stadium. They were leading 1-0 and then he (Owen Da Gama) put me in during referee’s optional time. By the grace of God, first touch, cross, Surprise (Moriri) finished and the game ended 1-1. And then I remember Steve (Komphela), when I was about to come on, during the warm-up… you know when you are warming up, you are nearer to the benches… So, he said, “Hey, do you guys remember this boy, he came for trials here? Look at him now.” Now, the next trip, we were going to Venda to play Black Leopards. Then they said grandstand! Not even bench, ha, ha, ha. I was frustrated even more, and I’m young phela (after all). No one is encouraging me or anything. When I come from training, I go to my friends as usual. But you know, God works in mysterious ways. Where I was seated in the grandstand, the Dynamos officials were there. I remember there was this guy called Mavi. He said, “Hee monna, kanti wena wenza njani (what’s going on with you) because you were supposed to be this side?” I said, “No, no, no, you guys said you were going to call us, you never called.” He asked, “How is your situation?” I said, “It’s the way you see it now.” He then asked, “Are you okay where you are?” I said, “I’m not okay.” I mean, I was telling him what I was feeling inside.

Geez, man, so when the club banished you to the grandstand, little did they know they were actually sending you to a meeting with your future employers, ha, ha, ha.

At the time, Pat Malabela’s CEO was a gentleman named Mxolisi Zwane, who was friends with Dr Mophosho, whom I told you was taking care of me as a father figure. They were running the Masters League of Alexandra, so they had been friends. Mxolisi was from Gomora as well, I think. He said, “Give us your contact number, we’ll phone you.” They told me I would be meeting Mxolisi, so I should speak to him. Then I told Dr Mophosho about it and then he said, “Oh, Mxolisi is there in the Masters League, I’ll set up a meeting with him, don’t stress.” During our meeting, Mxolisi told me that Dynamos had no money and that he would only be giving me a four-month contract so that I’m not caught up in a mess because of the club’s financial situation. And Dynamos that season were indeed struggling and I could see things were not going well, so I agreed to the fourmonth deal. Then when I went back to training… and of course I had this thing in my head that I don’t want to see myself here, ha, ha, ha. Like I said, I was someone who could be quite emotional. There’s too much pain for me being here because I don’t know where I am, what’s happening with me, what’s going to happen tomorrow. I was not feeling good about myself. So, we trained and then after training, I went up to Owen and told him… Well, there was another issue nhe. For me to get R1 500, there was never a contract where they sat down with me and said, ‘You are going to get R1 500.’ I trained with the team until the last day of the registration period and they said the owner, Larry Brookstone, was not there so that I could negotiate the contract. He was abroad. But now I had stayed seven months with the team, earning R1 500 a month, and I was being frustrated.

Understandably so.

Okay, besides indaba yemali (the money issue), I reconciled with myself that, ‘Okay, but I’m a nobody. How can

I make a name for myself and at least have some worth when I’m not playing and then the situation is like this?’ I was honest in asking myself that what if they ask how much I thought I was worth? What would I say? I didn’t know (what I was worth), ha, ha, ha, because I had not done anything in football. So, those were the kind of frustrations I had. So, I went up to him and said, “Do you remember asking for my clearance?” He said, “Ja”, and I said, “Can you give it back to me.” That was now February. He said, “We were paying you.” I said, “No, you were paying me because I was coming to work and training. That’s why you were paying me. When I was sitting at home, you were not paying me because I was not coming. So, what about my input?” So obviously we clashed because, like I was saying, he’s also a human being, he has his own ego, and then this young boy comes and confronts him, ha, ha, ha. Then he said, “Okay.” I think we were playing in Limpopo again and I didn’t travel with the team. The next thing, I get a call from the team manager, who at the time was Ty Mogopa.

Hmmm… this gets interesting.

He said, “Hee monna ,I hear bare o batla (they say you want) clearance.” I said, “Ja, ke kopile (I asked for the) clearance. Ake (I’m not) happy, ake (I’m not) right at all. Ha kuna niks etsamayang (There’s nothing that’s going) right. Ha ke na (I have no) contract le (with the) team. I registered with the PSL, but I don’t have a contract with the team.” Then he said, “Watseba gore re ka o frustrate a, re ska ofa clearance ya hao (Do you know that I can frustrate you and not give you your clearance)?” I said, “No, it’s okay. What I know keg ore (is that) I signed the registration form at the PSL, maar ha ke na (but I don’t have a) contract ke le (with the) team. So, ha kuna taba (no problem). The money you’re giving me, ke tla bereka ko (I’m going to find employment at) Pick n Pay, ba tlo ng’fa yona, ya tshwana mos chelete ya teng (they’re going to give it to me, the salary is the same anyway). At least I’ll be happy and I’ll get a contract with another PSL team.” The season was ending and I was already doing my research. Every time, before I moved, I always liked to do some research so that I could be sure of what I was getting myself into. Then the next thing, I asked for Larry’s number and I called him. I introduced myself to him because I knew he didn’t know me. I asked for my clearance from him and then he asked me whether I had spoken to the coach. I told him I had spoken to the coach and then he said, “Let me speak to him.” I think after that he called the coach and Owen then told him to give me the clearance because I was a nobody anyway. He then phoned me and asked me to come to his office to get the clearance and then I asked Obed Padi to fetch it for me. So, I struggled, but my life was normal. Nothing had changed. My frustration was that I was on the brink of change, but it was not happening, ha, ha, ha. But Dr Mophosho, Thabo Maphalla, Padi, those were the people that were always there for me.

Your struggles were immense, but at least you had a solid support structure that was able to cushion you from feeling the full effects of these upheavals. Until next week! No problem.