Still In Touch With... THAPELO LESHABANE (PART 3)

We’re back! After Silver Stars, you then moved to Giyani to link up with Dynamos in February 2004. What was the experience like up north of the country?

I played there for four months and after those four months, the contract was up. The team had survived relegation and coach Steve (Komphela) was no longer there. If you remember, coach Steve left during the middle of the season because the results weren’t coming and then (Anteneh) Eshete came. The two of us clicked because I remember he was a hard man that man, ha, ha, ha. The first time I got there, I was coming from Alexandra and I was travelling by taxi. You know, travelling by taxi, everything happens on the road and then I was late for the training session. Mind you, I was still new. Again, I had not made a name for myself and here I am, arriving late. After getting off the taxi, I was walking towards the training ground and then I met the owner of the club (Pat Malabela) in the street while clutching the team bag. It was an awkward moment. Bra Pat gave me a lift and he didn’t even speak to me. I was just petrified, you know.

We can imagine, ha, ha, ha.

I got to training and then the guys were playing a full game. I joined the one team. At the time, Tonic Chabalala, David Mathebula, Josias Macamo, Adam Ndlovu were still there. It was the regulars against the fringe players. Because I was new and had come late and was petrified and this coach was busy asking who I was and why I had come late, that he didn’t know me, I had to pull up my socks when I got onto that field. We played and I was working extra hard, and that thing on its own worked in my favour because Eshete saw something in me. During the water break, he took me out of the fringe players team and put me in the first team. That’s how I got my break at Dynamos. The season ended and then I had to come back as a trialist because the contract had expired, ha, ha, ha. We were camping (for pre-season) in Phalaborwa and then the old players were given accommodation, where they stayed in pairs of two in each room.

Okay…

I remember I stayed with the captain Gerald “Bacos” Mtshali, who was a great guy. He was always motivating me. He is a good guy that man. After two days sleeping with Bacos, coach Lefa Gqosha and Bra Spear (Maksaid hubo) came up to me and I had to go to this big dome where the trialists were based. So, I was not even part of this team! Eish, ukhe wabona (you see), you feel victimised. Like I told you, I was a very emotional person at times, so I felt sad. I was not even sure whether I was going to get a contract. Like I said, my child was quite young. My first-born daughter was born in 2003 and that was 2004, so she was one-year-and-something. There was no money for food at home and stuff because remember I arrived in February and got paid in February and March. In April, I never got paid. In May, I never got paid. In June, the season is over and there’s no money. Now it’s July, we’re coming back to work, there’s no money.

Hectic.

But the guys came together and said they would be contributing R100 each for me so that I could send something back home, and Mtshali and (Martin) Carelse were at the forefront of that. Good people. I managed to send money back home and the pressure subsided, and now I had to deal with the fact that I was not a Dynamos player. I was a trialist as well like everyone else. We were sleeping in the dome and there was a lot of noise and whatnot. So, we trained and trained and I pushed, and by the grace of God, they gave me a twoyear contract. And then they started to pay me better. For the first four months, they paid me R5 000, which was a huge difference to that R1 500, ha, ha, ha. I didn’t care, uyabona (you see). If you could see the place where I slept when

I got to Dynamos…

Tell us about it.

So, when I arrived there, they left me outside the house, and there were rooms that were being rented there. Then there was this main house that had no keys, no doors, broken windows. I only had a sheet and blankets on me. I found a dirty mattress somewhere, tried to rid it of all that dirt, put it in that dirty room and put my sheet on that mattress. I stayed in that room for months without any problem. But growup ing in Alexandra, it was not like I was coming from somewhere where I had experienced a better life. That helped a lot and I told myself it was okay, as long as I was able to sleep and then wake up to go to training.

Being from Alex, you must have been used to walking side-by-side with rats in the streets… a dirty mattress and broken windows was “small waters” in comparison. Ha, ha, ha!

Just pulling your leg!

Anyway, at least when I got to the stadium’s showers, there was warm water there. That was the only place where I could get warm water, meaning if I wanted to take a bath, I had to go there.

But at least it was a walking distance. I found the likes of Adam Majola, Green Mkhabela, who were staying in the same compound, and they were good guys. They loved me as well and they shared, so it was not too bad. When the club gave me the second contract, it was R8 000, and after deductions it was R6 600-and-something. But I would appreciate every cent because it made a difference at home, to my mom, my child, so it was okay. Then I played that season… that’s the season they brought in the likes of Ntokozo Sikhakhane, “AK 47” (Sandile Ndlovu). I would say I played my best football at Dynamos because what happened is that we didn’t have a left back. Khona lapho (There), we were staying in Phalaborwa and the season hadn’t started and we were playing pool.

And?

I overheard Bra Spear on the phone with Screamer Tshabalala and he was saying, “Hey Screamer, hey siyafa lapha ngaku left maan. Awuna left back nyana lapho ongangizama ngayo (we are dying on the left man. Don’t you have a left back that you can give to me)?” Ha, ha, ha. Screamer then said, “There is a boy there. Take him from left wing and play him there at the back. He will play.” I didn’t know, but I could tell from the way Bra Spear was looking at me as he was speaking on the phone that I was the subject of discussion. Like I said, I was a very emotional character, so when he said, “Siyafa ngapha ngaku left”, I said to myself that was the end of my time at the club. What have I done to these people? Ha, ha, ha. But by God’s grace, Bra Screamer recommended me. So, that’s my history with Bra Screamer. The two of us have never met one-onone, face-to-face, but he has been involved in my football from the time I was at Alex United.

Only Bra Stan, ha, ha, ha. He’s the man, isn’t he? But then how did this come to be? Let’s hear all about it, and more stories, next week. Of course, bro.