Heita, Collen. Last week, we spoke a bit about the so-called Special Projects that were par for the course at Jomo Cosmos. Tell us, what would happen then if a player stood his ground and said, "No, I don't want to take part in these pre-match rituals"?
It's amazing because a player like Hilton Jordaan, who was the only white man in the team, would ask, "Hey J, where is the project?" One player maybe that I remember wasn't happy is Mark Haskins and he eventually left Cosmos. I don't think he was happy (to use muti). He used to say, "No, I'm not going to do this and that, my culture doesn't allow." But most of the players were keen to follow the instructions of the team. There were players from DRC who were Muslim, players from Malawi who were Muslim, but those players never refused. They would follow their religion, but at the same time they would say, "Okay, if this is how we go about things here, let it be."
Interesting. So you reckon all of that steaming and bathing was done in the name of protection, nothing else?
Ja, it's mostly for protection. Let's be honest, muti will not win you games, for example. If muti was good, African teams would win the World Cup. You can even see we can't even reach the semi-finals, we always end up in the quarterfinals. The Morocco team, which is a Muslim team basically, was good (in the recent World Cup). Harming other teams… I don't think so because I've never seen us using something that would make the other team's players have their legs broken and stuff. I've never broken anybody's leg. Okay, I remember one game that we played against (Moroka) Swallows. Cosmos was leading 2-0 at George Goch (Stadium) when lightning struck. The likes of "Magents" (Edward Motale) and the late Jokhonia Cibi were playing for Swallows at the time. People started saying, "Hey, Cosmos, kwasha kwacima (this and that)." How do you blame Cosmos and say they sent the lightning so that the game would end when Cosmos was actually leading 2-0? It doesn't make sense. Instead, I would rather say Swallows are the ones who were using muti that day, and the muti was so strong that it brought lightning so that the game could end and we would have to play a repeat. And that game broke my heart because we were leading 2-0 and we went to play that game again and then we played a 2-2 draw.
You mean the match wasn't started at 2-0 in favour of Ezenkosi when it resumed on a different day?
No, no, it started from scratch, 0-0. The rules put it clearly that if there are unforeseen circumstances like lightning and whatnot, that game can be abandoned and started afresh. But when it comes to floodlight issues and such, then that game can continue – even if there was five minutes left, you will play only those five minutes when you resume. I remember one time we played Black Leopards and the lights went off at Thohoyandou (Stadium) while they were leading 1-0. There were about 35 minutes left. We had to go back to Thohoyandou the following week to play that 35 minutes.
Were you familiar with the club's muti men, or did Bra J (Jomo Sono) bring a different one each time?
Ha, ha, ha! Eish, iindaba zo muti (muti stories). I'll be honest to you and say sometimes you wouldn't even see these people that were doing these Special Projects. Sometimes you would see one guy who would be with you there and say a whole lot of things… and then gone. But mostly, these people you don't see them most of the time because… ha, ha, I don't know, maybe muti people prefer not to be seen. In any case, those things would be handled by management, and you as players are just told to do this and that. Or one person who is part of the management would tell you, "Guys, today you are going to bath", or, "Do this and that", while the muti men would be behind the scenes. Yeah, one or two bazovela (would come out) and you would see them, but mostly they were not seen.
We understand one time a steaming session went horribly wrong and you got burnt…
Ha, ha, ha, oh ja! I think we were going to play Free State Stars. They were a hoodoo team of Cosmos. We were steaming and I was with Anthony Laffor. We were the last two to take part in this pre-match ritual. Imagine, all the other players had come in and out, in and out, in and out. Obviously this water was boiling and Laffor was trying to get out. Now, the problem is that the blanket we had covered ourselves with touched the bucket. The bucket fell over and the water, which by now had filled just half of the bucket, flew in my direction! Imagine, this water is boiling! I started jumping all over the place, ha, ha, ha. Laffor was another character. I couldn't understand it, he's the one who accidentally tripped over the blanket, yet here he was, laughing at me. I tried to jump, but the water burnt me. My left foot was the most affected. He then phoned Jomo to say, "Here's Collen burning here." Luckily, there was a doctor in camp with us and he took care of that. We went to play and beat Free State Stars 2-0 at Charles Mopeli Stadium. After the game, our muti man told me that if I hadn't got burnt, then those guys would have beaten us. So, the belief was that that incident broke that curse that Free State Stars had over us because hey, bebasihlupha la bantu (those guys used to trouble us).
Moving on, let's now talk about some of the funny guys you shared a dressing room with at Ezenkosi.
Lovers Mohlala came to join us at one point and he was just another character. Yho, Lovers! I remember he took a penalty when we were playing against Swallows in Durban in the SAA Supa 8. Very, very good player, but he just never stopped talking. I remember the score was 1-1 and I don't know if Tico-Tico (Bucuane) was scared or what, but Lovers took the ball and put it on the penalty spot. He turned around and looked at Jomo on the bench, and Jomo gave him an instruction to say, "Lovers, yishaye (hit it) straight ku (at the) goalkeeper." He knew that the way Lovers was such a character, he was going to do his own thing. And vele (indeed), Lovers hit it straight where the keeper was standing and then the keeper dived the wrong way. The two of us are the same age and when he joined us, I had switched roles from playing to being an assistant coach to Jomo. He was my friend while he was playing for Mamelodi Sundowns and we were also in the same Amaglug-glug team. We were doing things sonke (together), and when he came to Cosmos now, I was his coach, ha, ha, ha. Sometimes he would tell me straight, "Hayi maan (No, man), Collen, khawume kancane. Sowufuna sigijime manje (relax a bit. You now want us to run)?"
Ha, ha, ha, Lovers for you!
Siza Dlamini is another one who came to Cosmos and found me coaching, having played for Golden Arrows previously. A very, very naughty player. He liked joking around. I mean, Siza would joke from one point to another whenever we were travelling to games. Then we had Innocent Ntsume, who was a problem child. You see, that one was worse. He would even tease Jomo, he wasn't scared of him. I remember he used to tease the man about this one pair of jeans he liked wearing, ha, ha, ha. As for Sipho Sephadi, he was a little on the quiet side, but a nice guy. You know, when he joined Cosmos, he started to be very aggressive and I think that's because he could see that that's how you survived in this team. I mean, you can mention players. Sephadi changed his style to be aggressive in midfield. Ntsume… okay, he was part of the Cosmos development and he also became aggressive in midfield. Sam Magalefa, joining from Wits (University) and SuperSport (United) and being converted from a striker to a defender, he adopted that style of being aggressive. So, you can say it was a culture that was there at Cosmos, although I want to dispel that notion that it was an instruction from Jomo. I think it was a case of if you are in Rome, you do as the Romans do.
STILL IN TOUCH FUN FACTS
First paycheque: R1 500
Biggest bonus: R120 000
Opponent you respected the most: Pollen Ndlanya Jerry Sikhosana
Team you would have loved to play for: Kaizer Chiefs
Favourite PSL player right now: Themba Zwane
Best coach played under: Tshisa Nkambule Jomo Sono
Craziest request from a fan: Ladies asking me to hook them up with certain players
