MARUMO GALLANTS’ MABOKE MATLAKALA

Maboke, let’s not waste any time, our readers need to get laughing and blow the month-end blues away. Over to you! One of the funniest guys I have played with is Mbongeni Mzimela, who was my teammate at Platinum Stars. He was such a character that guy. We were in the habit of using one car whenever we travelled to training and he would always have so much to say. The thing about him is that he always seemed to know what was happening with everyone at the club. I remember this one time we were going to training and he was telling us that the coach would be gone. He knew before us that the coach would be let go. It’s just that I don’t remember which coach this was. We were not aware that the coach was no longer with the team and Mzimela kept on joking that we would not even train that day. We were just so surprised and kept wondering what he was talking about. But somehow, he knew before all of us, ha, ha, ha. Trust me when I say he was such a character. Such a funny guy. The type of guy you enjoy being around.

But how did he know about the coach leaving? I don’t know, ha, ha, ha. He had his days because soccer players only start talking when they are not in the team. If you are not in the matchday squad of 20 maybe two times, then you can find someone starting to joke around, ha, ha. Another thing about Mzimela is that people’s secrets were not safe with him. If you were to give him a call, he would tell you everything about every player, ha, ha, ha. You would hear people’s news from him because he does not keep secrets.

Ha, ha, ha, looks like he would make a good Siya crew member! So, how did the guys feel about their secret not being in ‘safe hands’ with goalkeeper Mzimela? You can get angry, but what can you do? There’s nothing really you can do. You get upset at that moment. If you were to spend time with him, you would hear so many stories. He can make jokes for a long time. But he is a great guy to be around.

Sure. During my time at Black Leopards, there were some characters, and I was also one of those who were a problem because I am the type of person to take videos when someone is snoring in the bus or is doing something funny. I remember there was a time when Tiklas Thutlwa had his headphones on while we were in the bus. So, you know that when you have your headphones on, you sometimes can’t hear that you are singing loudly. The way he sings... yho!

You mean he is a Thamsanqa Gabuza-like type of singer?

He could not hear that he was making a noise. He played gospel music, so I would tak eav id eoof him, ha, ha. That’s how I am. I can be a problem sometimes, but in a good way, ha, ha, ha.

Naughty! Who were the other characters there?

(Isaac) Masia always used to tease me because I was on loan at Leopards from (Marumo) Gallants. He kept on saying, “We are just helping you because you don’t have a job, but you are busy making a noise in training.” I was on loan there, but that was so funny. Masia is one guy who would just have a go at everyone.

So, you were like one of those tjatjarag visitors who would be the first to say ‘come in’ when someone knocked on the door, making sure to beat the owner of the house to it, ha, ha, ha. Go on…

The one player I cannot go without mentioning is Mahlatse Makudubela. That guy is a character. He is the type of guy who would sit down while we were taking a team picture.

Yes, we actually saw that recently before Gallants played Kaizer Chiefs. He was on the floor during the team picture and he had that pose that Erling Haaland does after scoring a goal.

Yes, he is that type of person. You can just see that he is a problem, ha, ha, ha. He can say something and then say, “It was not me who said it. It’s the coach.” Just now, on Saturday, he took coach Dan’s (Malesela) water and the coach was like, “Whose water is that you are taking because it’s my water?” He is just a funny guy, but I like him. I usually sit with him when we are in the bus.

We know all about the craziness of Makudubela here on the In Touch page.

There’s a guy here at Gallants who has been on trial, he is a foreign player. There was a day when that guy came to training wearing Indian clothes. He was dressed funny that day. He only came once wearing those clothes. I was injured that time and the rest of the team had gone to camp. So, there were a few of us who had remained. So, luckily for him, the rest of the team was not there. Imagine if the rest of the team was around! Havoc would have been the order of the day. These days, he comes to training in tracksuits, so it shows that he learnt, ha, ha, ha. Another guy who dresses funny is Matimu Tshabalala. He is at Leopards. He is ‘Mr Colour Blocking’. He can wear socks that are pink and yellow. Like, he can wear something that has many colours. But he is still young. He is a funny guy, ha, ha, ha.

Seems like he’s one Leopard that keeps on changing its spots, ha, ha, ha. Thank you so much for your time, Shakira. Chat again soon. Thank you for the opportunity, my brother.