After securing his first professional contract with Chippa United, Thabiso Lebitso has always forged forward and is playing like a seasoned campaigner. From the streets of Sebokeng to the top, the road has been a strenuous one for the attacker. It took a couple of minutes for esteemed legends such as Doctor Khumalo and Jerry Sikhosana to spot his talent, and from there, there was no turning back. Today he is living his dream, although the bitter aftertaste of his mother's passing lingers on. In this interview with Soccer Laduma's Masebe Qina, the 26-yearold talks about what he terms a 'long and emotional' journey to professional football, former teammate Thulani Cele's incarceration in Georgia, the Chilli Boys' very likely relegation, and more.
Masebe Qina: Hola, Thabiso. Firstly, could you please clarify the confusion around your age?
Thabiso Lebitso: To be honest, I'm not really sure about the data and I don't know how the 4 March 1992 date came about because that's not my age. That's not my date of birth and there's just nothing correct about that one. I was born in 1996, on the 28th of June. Maybe there was a misunderstanding when my documents were being submitted somewhere… I really don't know. I have been trying to get assistance to correct it whenever I speak to someone from the media, but this thing persists and it is causing a misunderstanding, so I would really like people to refer to my correct age. If you check how my career has gone from playing Varsity Football to the PSL, the dates and the age on Transfermarkt do not correspond. You play Varsity Football only when you are under 25 and that's why I played there because I was eligible and I went on to play in the (Nedbank) Ke Yona Team and similar rules applied. In 2019, I was, like, 24 and now I'm supposedly 30. How is that possible? It doesn't make sense.
MQ: Hopefully, the SA football fraternity has taken note. With that out of the way, take us through your journey in the game up to this point.
TL: Eish, man, it's a very long story and a complicated one. It has been a difficult journey for me, I don't want to lie to you. From a young age, I played for a team called Junior Lions in the amateur ranks at home in the Vaal. There are other professional players from there like Thabo Rakhale, Kenny Bodibe, Thabo Mnyamane and others, and we all came from the same team from back home. From Lions, I went to TUT (Tshwane University of Technology) after finishing my Grade 12. So, I never played in any semi-professional league and it was from the LFA (Local Football Association) to SAB League and then to the PSL. But it wasn't an easy journey. I started playing Varsity Football in 2017 until 2019 and although we did well there, it wasn't quite a good recognition for me to get a deal in the PSL.
MQ: We're listening…
TL: I then met a guy called (Collen) "Baggio" Mashawa and he was one of the people involved in the Ke Yona Team. At the time, I never knew much about the Ke Yona Team and it was introduced to me by him regarding all the details pertaining to playing there and so on. Later on, I got a call from him informing me about the trials and I went there and I was on the queue with all the players who had received SMSs inviting them for trials. When I got there, it was around 06h00 and I waited for my turn. I got my first trial at 16h00, can you imagine? I haven't had food or anything to eat the whole day because the minute you move out of that queue and your name gets called and you aren't there, you miss out. Luckily, I played well and later on they called me for an interview as part of the selection process. I was informed about the interview the following day and I thought they were joking when they told me about it because I had had only a few minutes of trial and I was wondering how they might have noticed me to select me so quickly. Few days after (that), the crew arrived at home with the cameras to interview me for TV and that's when I started suspecting that there could be something coming for me out of the trial. The technical team at the time included Doctor Khumalo and "Legs of Thunder" (Jerry Sikhosana), and coach Khabo (Zondo) was the head coach. But despite all the excitement and everything that was happening, there was a big problem at home.
MQ: Hmmm…
TL: My mom was very, very sick. I alerted the guys to it and told them even though I was eager to do the interview, I wasn't comfortable because of my mom's condition. My mom was not okay at all and I was concerned. But they persuaded me to do it anyway and said that my mom's situation could be part of the interview to say that I was doing all of it for her. I then asked her, "Mom, would you be able to allow me to allow people in to do the interview with me?" She said it was fine and we went ahead with the interview. The episode was aired on a Monday and Tuesday my mom's condition worsened and the following day, which was a Wednesday, my mom left us. Just imagine, I was there and thinking that things were starting to happen for me and I was sure that my mom would be proud, then she was gone. I was asking myself too many questions. Maybe she was waiting for that episode on TV so that she could say whatever she had to say there about me, or what… I wasn't sure. It was way too difficult for me to accept. Eventually, I made it into the last 18 of players that got selected for the final team and I was made the captain of the side. I was still not okay about losing my mom, but I saw it as an opportunity to make her proud wherever she was. After the campaign, when they allocated players to PSL clubs, I was sent to Chippa (United) and I struggled a bit because I was still young and there were top players in the team. I had never played in the NFD (National First Division, now Motsepe Foundation Championship) or ABC Motsepe League and I found myself having to compete with top players from different backgrounds, and it was challenging. I just told myself to give it my best and I knew that God would give me something eventually and indeed I got my contract in the end and that's the contract I am still on today. My journey has been long and emotional.
MQ: We're sorry to hear about your mom, man. She must be proud of you where she is. Moving on, how's your relationship with the agent, Baggio?
TL: Baggio and I are very close. He managed to see the potential that I had from an early age. He is a very good person. I know that people were on top of him because of the situation that happened (with Cele), but I believe that he never wanted the guy to do what is alleged to have happened and he wanted to help him with his future. What I told people is that he managed to help other players to go overseas. I know my friend Jacob Hlalele went overseas through his assistance, as well as Sello Ngoetjana, who was playing in Oman, and a few others. All those guys went overseas because of Baggio and things went well for them and I believe that he didn't get the credit he deserves for that. For Thulani, certain things happened that side and now people are saying everything they want to say about Baggio. He sent Thulani there and didn't have any control of what happened afterwards, and that's my opinion.
MQ: How have you managed to be so consistent for the Chilli Boys?
TL: Yeah, man, you know when you get your first professional contract, a lot of things change because it is your dream come true. What has been a motivation for me is competing with a lot of top players in the team. Ever since I got my first professional contract, I never looked back. I lost my mom doing what I love (playing football), I will never look back and that's why I've been consistent and giving it my all whenever I possibly can. If I don't play, I don't play, but if I get an opportunity, I give it my all.
MQ: Following a promising start under former coach Morgan Mammila, the results deserted the club after the World Cup break.
TL: Eish, I can never have a proper answer about that because… we did well, man, earlier in the season even under coach Daine Klate in how we were playing, and then coach Morgan came and we continued doing well, but I don't know what changed. We still had the same players and I just don't really know what happened. It could be our mentality that we started taking things for granted after getting back-to-back wins or something else, I'm really not sure. Maybe we changed the attitude or something, it's difficult to point out the problem.
MQ: How is the mood in camp leading up to the last round of fixtures this weekend?
TL: Eish, big man, despite whatever is happening, we just have to be positive because it's football, man. The situation is there and we can't run away from it – we just have to keep on pushing. It's part of football, we got ourselves there and we just have to take ourselves out of the situation. But the camp is positive and everyone has been motivating us. From the management, the chairman, coaches, technical team and everyone, you can see that they still have huge belief that we can turn the corner. So, we're grateful for that going into our do-or-die game on Saturday. We'll just have to pull up our socks and I believe in our spirit for the game.
MQ: You lost 4-0 against TS Galaxy last Saturday…
TL: Ja man, to be honest, the first 45 minutes was good for us. We got some chances in the first 20-25 minutes and we were supposed to score, but we didn't use those chances. Later on, they scored and we went into half-time trailing 1-0. When we came back for the second half, things were a bit sluggish and it was a bit difficult for us. But it wasn't about tactics or anything… maybe it was about our mentality. Maybe some of us started to give up a bit and we ended up not being ourselves. We did not put our 100% concentration on the game and that's when we ended up conceding a lot of goals. But we'll try and look back at the game and rectify where we can.
MQ: What's coach Lehlohonolo Seema saying about the situation?
TL: He is motivating us and is still positive. He is still putting in the work and we were back at training on Monday and working, and one could see that the guys are still willing to work and put in the effort. We still have a chance to survive. We can still turn the corner. I believe that if we focus on the game and what we can do and not what other teams can do, we can still make it. We have to look into ourselves and what we can do better than looking at what Marumo Gallants can do because that is none of our business.
MQ: What a fight you have on your hands against Golden Arrows on Saturday. All the best!
TL: Thank you so much, bro.
THABISO LEBITSO FACT FILE
Date of birth: 28 June 1996
Place of birth: Sebokeng, Gauteng
Position: Midfielder
Jersey number: 28
Club: Chippa United
Previous clubs: Junior Lions (amateur), Tshwane University of Technology
Honours: None
