Still in Touch with...
A lean but mean w inger in his heyday, Katleho Loke got his breakthrough at Orlando Pirates in 1999, having graduated from the club’s development structures, w here he’d spent a few months after being scouted in Kroonstad. A scarcity of playing minutes uprooted him to Benoni Premier United, prior to spells at Thanda Royal Zulu and Jomo Cosmos, before ending things after a brief stint at FC AK, w here he’d played a mere three games in w hat he describes as a move he shouldn’t have made. This w as in the 2012/13 season. “The club’s financial troubles pushed me out of the game. I never retired, but now that I’m old… I’m 43 this year… I can say I’ve retired because no one w ill sign me, especially here in South Africa. Yet the likes of Zlatan are still playing in other countries,” explains the outspoken Loke.
Hola, “Scooter”! Been a while. Are you still involved in the game in any way?
MaLungas, I’m playing for Clayville Masters, so we’re playing every Sunday in the Masters League, where there is all these former professional players that you can name. The Class of 1996 is there. The Jerry Sikhosanas, Pollen Ndlanyas, Clement Mazibukos, all those people… we play every Sunday. Now it’s more fun, you know, because now you get to showcase your skills and play where there is no limit and there is no coach that will tell you, ‘Hey, don’t do that! Don’t do that skill. Get the ball forward so that we can score.’ At least now it’s more fun, it’s more relaxed. When we finish playing, we do sit together sometimes, do braais and all those things. It is nice to play there.
Now to the not-so-relaxed professional side. You started out at Orlando Pirates, right?
Ja, professionally I started at Pirates, even though I never got a chance to play. I was chosen for the development in November 1998, but I actually joined up with them the next year and that same year, I was promoted to the first team. You know, I would say that was my luckiest year ever because I was selected by Augusto Palacios in the Free State, Kroonstad, where I was playing for Steve Komphela’s team. I was selected there to come for trials in 1998, which I did in November. After that, then I came to Jo’burg and then in January, I was playing for the development. Then, same year, I was selected to play for the national U20 team that went to represent South Africa in a tournament in France. When we came back from France, that’s when I was promoted to the first team. I think it was just down to luck that things went so well for me all in the space of a year. There were a lot of people there at Orlando Stadium coming on trial and I was selected out of those thousands of people and the same year, I got to play for the national team and then the same year I was promoted to the first team of Pirates. It was an amazing feeling, I don’t want to lie. I don’t know how to describe it… it was like now things are going to happen, now this is my chance to showcase my potential, now people are gonna see me playing professionally on TV.
But it didn’t turn out that way.
It was tough, you know. Whatever that I thought was going to happen that time, that I was going to play since things had gone so smoothly for me in that year, and then when I got to the first team, yho! It was like, ‘Hey baba, ha, ha, ha, you’re dreaming wena! You can’t just come and play here.’ I had arrived where I wanted to be and these players I grew up watching were there. I was sharing a position with those players that were playing then, your Josep Ngakes, your Steve Lekoeleas. Remember those guys were regulars in the first team and I was just coming from the development. It was tough, MaLungas, I don’t wanna lie. But chances were there for me to play, but unfortunately, it didn’t happen because the coaches came and left. And then again, as an individual, I cannot blame the coaches or whatsoever because every time, I was always injured when I was selected to go and play. I would be injured all of a sudden. Probably the coaches thought, ‘Ah, this guy is not serious.’ So, I cannot blame the coaches that much that I did not get a chance to play. Chances were there, chances were there.
What do you mean you would be injured “all of a sudden”?
Errr… Lungas, I’d be injured all of a sudden. On Friday, they would call a team, maybe 20 players, to go to the camp, and then when I went to the flat maybe to get the bags to go to the camp, all of a sudden I wouldn’t be able to walk. The ankle was swollen, but there was no pain. I wouldn’t be able to wear my takkies or my boots comfortably. Maar (But) there’s no pain, there’s nothing. I would report this to the team and the coach would be told that this guy won’t be able to make it. Then come Monday after the game, I would be there at training, all healed. Maybe the coaches started thinking that hayi lo muntu usaba ama game lo (no, this guy is scared of playing games) because whenever I got injured, they would not be there… it would be after we finished training on Friday. They would name the team, I would go back home, and then they would be told that “Scooter” is injured. Kanjani? Kuphi? Nini (How? Where? When)? Because this guy was okay when he left here on Friday. Some of the things you can’t explain them, to say what was really happening. That’s when you’d hear people saying, “Hayi wena bayakuloya (They are bewitching you).” That’s when you’d start finding all those comments from other people, you know.
What went through your mind as people started telling you that?
MaLungas, remember I joined Pirates in 1999, (and I was there in) 2000, 2001… that’s when I saw ukuthi yazi yini (that you know what), this thing is real. People cannot just say, “He monna, wena bayakuloya, kumele uyobona abantu, ubone ukuthi kwenzakalani (they are bewitching you, you have to go and see someone so as to find out what’s going on). With the talent that you have, they call you to the team, and the next thing you’re injured and can’t play. No, you have to consult and see what’s going on with you. Go and check what’s wrong.” When I left Pirates to join Benoni (Premier United), that’s when I went to see someone. Mr (Dumisani) Ndlovu, the former boss of Benoni, took me to someone. From that day in 2001, I’ve never struggled with injuries and that’s why I was playing regularly at Benoni. But at Pirates, it was tough. It was bad.
Eish, you were this wide-eyed youngster walking into the Pirats first-team set-up, looking to make a name for yourself, playing with guys you’d only watched on TV, and no one forewarned you of the darker side of the game. You know what I’m saying? I don’t believe in these muti things, I don’t know anything about muti, I’ve never used muti before in my life, in my career. Then I said to myself, ‘What is going on?’ I just realised and said to myself, ‘This means I was never meant to play for Orlando Pirates.’ When I was still at Pirates, I was young and I couldn’t take some of the advices that people were giving me, that, “Mf’ethu, kumele uhambe uyobon’ umuntu (Brother, you have to go and see someone).” I was young, naïve, ignorant, telling people that mina ngi grand, mina ngiyathandaza (I’m alright, I’m praying). They would also tell me, ‘Nathi siyathandaza ndoda, maar (We also pray, man, but) you have to…’ So, those comments were coming all the time, but I only took it seriously when I
got to Benoni.