Critics leave superfan Mama Joy in tears
One of South Africa’s biggest superfans, Mama Joy Chauke, is heartbroken.
But it is not because of the announcement on social media this week by sport, arts and culture minister Gayton MacKenzie that he plans to stop bankrolling her and other superfans’ trips to international matches.
Her distress is due to the nasty comments posted about her in response to McKenzie’s announcement.
This week McKenzie posted: “@JoyChauke5 & other fans obviously love sports but how do I explain for instance 2 the national hockey team that was doing a fundraiser or the paralympic athlete that don’t have transport that we don’t have money 4 them but we sending people at a cost of millions to global events.”
While some X users sent her messages of support, others did not hold back.
Sideshen Pather @Sideshen tagged Mama Joy with this post: “Enough of you. You’re a user and abuser. You leached (sic) funds that could’ve been used for the good of sportsmen and women and artists who needed it. You can pay your own way through life now.”
Other users labelled her “entitled” ,a “freeloader”, said she “should be ashamed” and told her “you’ve looted our tax for too long”.
In tears, Mama Joy told the Sunday Times: “I am heartbroken now. Not because of the ending of our trips of support. I love my country. I never knew there were so many people angry at me.
“I never put a gun to anybody’s head. I never ate the money. What I did, I did out of love for our boys and girls in sport and I will keep supporting our boys and girls in sport even if it means watching the events on TV.
“People in your own country do not always see and understand what you are doing. What I do not understand is how people, who loved us, are now attacking us and saying we are eating money,” Mama Joy said.
“But these critics will never be able to steal my joy of loving our nation. I will take that joy with me everywhere I go, even if it means I am on my own in front of my TV set.
“If you love something, no-one can stop that love. That love comes from inside you and goes everywhere.”
What if corporate sponsors come to the party?
“The last thing I want is for a corporate to come under fire for supporting me and the other super fans. I just want to be part of the people waving the flag in support of our athletes.”
One of the partners behind a well-known South African sports supporter group said not everything had been “smooth and easy” for superfans.
“They did not — like people seem to believe — stay in the most expensive hotels. I know in some places they stayed in the hotels’ lobbies,” said the independent fan coordinator, who did not want to be named.
He remembers one moment with Botha Msila.
“It was after one of the Bok World Cup matches. I saw Botha — neither him nor Mama Joy drink alcohol — leaving the event early. I walked out to him outside and asked him where he was going. He told me he was going to walk to the place where had to sleep that night. I asked him the location and when I realised he would spend more than two hours walking, I called him an Uber.”