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Kaizer Motaung cannot allow his great name to continue being sullied more than it already has been
Kaizer Motaung has never been a man of many words. But such is the situation at Kaizer Chiefs currently that even his silence is now deafening.
Granted, the Amakhosi el supremo has given the majority of the club’s leadership to his children and it could well be a case of him saying ‘The kids must learn because I am eventually not going to be around’. But at what cost Bra K?
Surely it must pain you to see Chiefs struggling as they are? No doubt your heart bleeds at seeing your pride and joy losing three matches in succession as they have and more so to clubs your Chiefs would ordinarily clean the floor with? Does it not give you sleepless nights that Chiefs are now a mid-table side that never features in championship discussions?
The thing is, and I am sure you are well aware, that the legacy that is being tarnished is not that of your children Bra K. It is yours.
It is Kaizer Motaung we all think of when the name Kaizer Chiefs is mentioned. And right now, that name is seriously being sullied. Right now, that name which has always been synonymous with glamour, flamboyance and success is fast being trampled on. Right now all those memories of trophy-laden seasons courtesy of classy household name players and larger-than-life coaches backed by passionate and colourful followers are getting eroded fast.
We are now getting close to a decade of rot – Chiefs fast approaching ten seasons without winning major silverware. It is a rot the Kaizer Motaung who risked his life to leave Orlando Pirates and form this club would never have tolerated. The trend-setting Kaizer Motaung who was the first man to use the experience earned from playing overseas to form his own club would not have allowed things to get this far.
But then again, age does slow even the best down – doesn’t it? And damn it would seem that you are in slow motion lately, Chincha Guluva. How else does one explain your allowing the club you so painstakingly built to sink to such depths?
The younger Motaung was known to walk into the dressing room at half time of a match Chiefs was losing or playing poorly in to give the players a tongue-lashing – as owner, way after he’d stopped coaching – and remind them whose name it was that would be plastered on the following day’s newspapers. It was such an attitude of not accepting anything close to mediocrity near the gold and black jersey that helped ensure Chiefs were the kings of local football in years and seasons gone by, remember?
Lately though, you - the man who was only recently duly conferred an honorary doctorate by the University of Cape Town for his overall contribution to the growth of the sport in the country – have appeared to have taken a backseat. And it is coming at a cost.
Those close to happenings at Naturena would like us to believe that ‘Bra K is still hands-on’.
”He comes to the office and is involved hey,” someone told me recently.
Well, it does not show at all. Damn, it has not shown in many seasons now – Chiefs having been in the kind of freefall that has seemed to suggest that your renowned firm hand is just not there or that you have properly loosened it up.
You are turning 80 years of age in October Bra K and if you are to do one big thing to mark the milestone many can only dream about, you would do well to properly shake things up at Chiefs.
Sure, your children are always going to be part of the club. But how about you give them roles that don’t affect what transpires on the pitch? Jessica is doing a mighty fine job in marketing the club and should be allowed to continue. Have the boys – Bobby and Kaizer Junior – somewhere in the management of the grand institution you have created and then hire real football people to do the football duties.
As for you, hire a marquee coach BraK. Don’t leave it to your kids whose football knowledge is honestly restricted to them being products of your loins. Do it yourself. Go out there and get your man as you have done in previous years. I bet you have lost count of the number of top-class coaches you have brought into the country, only for the rest of the local clubs to pick them up once they’d served Amakhosi.
Once that is done, recruit the players. You, and only you, know what makes a Chiefs player. Find them and sign them up to ensure that arguably the most followed football club in the country is a serious contender next season. It is the right thing to do, if not for the ‘Peace Loving’ Amakhosi faithful who have been the laughingstock of their adversaries, then do it for you. Do it for the name Dr Kaizer Motaung.
Because now, with such a lofty title preceding your name as well as your recent induction into the SA Hall of Fame, anything related to Kaizer Chiefs has got to be of a lofty standard too. And you will no doubt agree that losing three matches in a row and to teams as lowly as Chippa United and Richards’ Bay while watching from the sidelines as Mamelodi Sundowns dominate the domestic championship as they have been very un-Kaizer Motaung if there’s such a thing.
I know you don’t like to speak much. And I actually do not expect you to. But I know you are an action man Chincha Guluva. Act Bra K. Kaizer Chiefs need it now more than ever. Damn, South African football needs it.