Khumalo focused on future and a title with Wits
THERE ARE only two things from his football career that Bongani Khumalo exhibits in his house. It’s signed jerseys from the 2010 World Cup which hang in his study.
The rest, his trophies and medals – including the three Absa Premiership winners’ medals he won with SuperSport United and the gold medal he won in athletics in his time as a pupil at Rietondale Primary School in Pretoria – stay in his late parents’ home. That’s because he doesn’t want to let past achievements hold him back because there is still a lot to be achieved, like to help Bidvest Wits win their first league title in the PSL era.
Khumalo hangs the two jerseys because the World Cup was an emotional tournament for him. It started exactly a year after he lost his mother on June 11, 2009. Her death followed that of his father who passed away when he was 13. That’s why he pointed to the heavens when he scored against France.
“For a few seconds after that goal I wasn’t part of this world,” Khumalo said.
In those few seconds he went to where his parents are, watching over him as he keeps the promise he made to never give up.
“After they passed away, it was ambition that kept me going,” Khumalo said. “My mom battled cancer for many years. When we were challenging for the (second) league (title), I would go to training and then the hospital. When we won it in Cape Town, two days before that we played (Orlando) Pirates. I was in hospital the night before that game.
“I called Gavin (Hunt). ‘Sorry coach my mom can’t breath, I must take her to hospital’. I took her there and came back to camp. The following day we played Pirates, we drew that game. After it I went back to hospital. It was a tough time, those six months. When she passed away I was filled with anger but it also created that fearlessness in me. When you suffer a heartbreak, you just become fearless. I just threw myself in the game and worked as hard as I can. Before she passed away, she told me I shouldn’t let anything stop me.”
The busy schedule from the 2009 Confederation Cup distracted Khumalo from his loss. He put all his energy to helping Bafana Bafana in that tournament and the World Cup a year later along with winning two more league titles with Matsatsantsa.
Tottenham Hotspur came after that with a five-year contract. That’s where Khumalo started feeling being alone because he was not only in a foreign continent but also without his parents who had supported his football career from day one. His father went to all his matches as a junior, something few black parents do, while his mother only watched repeats of his professional matches. She couldn’t handle seeing his son get injured. She would watch only after calling him to find out if he was okay.
Dealing with that loss made him grow as a man. He became more confident in himself, thanks also to Hunt who he re-unites with at Wits. But that confidence has been thrown at his face, labelled arrogant. In the five years he spent in Europe, during his numerous loan spells, that confidence was demanded from him. That’s the story of Khumalo’s life, trying to fit in, in a world where he is “different”. But he doesn’t have to do that with Hunt, which is why he feels the move is right and he can show people what Spurs and those who gave him the Bafana Bafana captaincy saw in him.
“When I started out as a youngster I was very shy,” Khumalo said. “Hunt helped me overcome that, to be vocal and be a better leader. He helped me embrace my personality.
“It’s funny when my personality comes up, I get called Model C and Coconut. It’s uncalled for. My parents worked hard to give me this platform. All I want to do is to improve from that platform, which is what every child wants to do. I can’t apologise for the person I am because there are people who love me like this. This is me!”