OPINION | Death of Kaizer Chiefs’ Masike a reminder of need to care for soccer legends

I spoke to Jackie Masike a few weeks before he passed on, as well as on his birthday.

Masike, who was nicknamed “Asinamali” by the late Ewert “The Lip” Nene, was a founding member of an All-Star Kaizer Chiefs team.

His teammates included the late Patrick Pule “Ace” Ntsoelengoe, Petrus “Ten-Ten” Nzimande, Vusi “Computer” Lamola, Kaizer Motaung and Nelson “Teenage” Dladla.

He excelled in defence, managing to counter menacing opponents such as Amos “Shuffle” Mkhari from Orlando Pirates and Pretoria Callies’ Lucas “Masterpieces” Moripe.

Only three founding members of Kaizer Chiefs are left: Motaung, Banks Sethlodi and Ratha “Greaves” Mokgoatlheng, who is the presiding judge in the Senzo Meyiwa trial. 

It is painful to note that some soccer legends do not seem to be taken care of by some administrators and this has been normalised in SA.

Moripe was taken care of and honoured while he was still alive by Caf president Patrice Motsepe, and by his community.

I was happy, though, to hear sports minister Gayton McKenzie promising to meet football legends.

Football clubs are run on a business basis.

However, I wonder why big clubs such as Kaizer Chiefs do not ask big businesses to provide packages for their legends in the form of medical aid and groceries?

To be specific, I felt pained when the late Nzimande told me he would go to bed for days on an empty stomach.

Those who visited Masike in hospital would know better.

They saw for themselves his macabre reality of being admitted to a public hospital where care is found wanting.

How long are our legends going to see the same picture while they are still alive?

Proverbs 23:23 says: “Buy truth, and do not sell it: buy wisdom, instructions, and understanding.”

Former Kaizer Chiefs players at times contribute the little cash they can afford to help ailing ones.

A few years back, they gave Simon Bull Lehoko some cash after learning he was permanently wheelchair bound. 

Recently, another player, Peter Mokotedi, who died blind, was struggling to make ends meet.

Do we need legends to stand on top of mountains to appeal for help?

Jomo Sono and Ntsoelengoe organised a charity game in 1979 to help the blind Colbert “Spear” Sobopha. A funeral parlour gave him free funeral cover.

Can Kaizer Chiefs supporters and the public not fill up the stadiums and contribute towards the cause of legends to ameliorate their situation?

As we pay our last respects to Masike and other legends, we must ask whether we paid the first respects.

How do their families, especially their children, feel when their fathers are living in squalor, shame and have nothing to show for their sacrifices?

In the mid-1980s, a local magazine carried the caption: “Kaizer Chiefs: The good and the ugly behind it all.”

At the time, Kaizer Chiefs had won everything that was on offer in the National Professional Soccer League.

It was sad to see Herman “Pele” Blaschke photographed working in a furniture fixing workshop.

Also featured in the magazine was Thomas “Zero” Johnson, who was struggling to make ends meet, and he was bitter.

At some point, Mokgoatlheng elected to be economical with words, as if to say “let things run at Chiefs the way they were”.

If we listen to the legends, they say Chiefs abandoned its tradition of recruiting the best players.

That is why the team has become a laughing stock.

Another question to ask is if some legends are in poverty but are only given tracksuits and T-shirts when attending ceremonies, what lessons must we take away?

Is it for the sake of publicity or is the unwritten text exemplifying subjectification?

Perhaps that is why sports legends are not even keen to be interviewed or to commission their biographies.

The narrative that we have is that of glorifying club owners, administrators at Safa, praising of sponsors, naming stadiums after politicians and all that is ugly and repulsive.

Gerald Monwabisi Dinwayo, educationist, writing in his personal capacity