Still In Touch With…Mzawuthethi Nogwaza Part 4

Nov 16, 2024 - 01:51 am

By Lunga Adam

Still In Touch With…Mzawuthethi Nogwaza Part 4

Welcome back, Mhlekazi, as we continue with our interesting conversation! Well, we can't talk about Bush Bucks and not touch on the topic of muti.

Eish, uyabona ke mna ke ndingumntu othanda ukuphuma ecaleni (you see I'm someone who doesn't go with the flow). This thing of iyeza (muti), I still don't believe in it to this day. I usually say to people that if muti was working in football, then Bafana Bafana would have won the World Cup; an African team should have won the World Cup. If you are a muti man, you should help a team like (Kaizer) Chiefs or (Orlando) Pirates, those ones that are always looking to win the league, so that they can win it back-to-back. You would be a multi-millionaire. Just go there and say, "Here. If you win it, give me R2 million from the R15 million prize money every year." Even you in the rural areas, you don't have a team that you can promote to the ABC Motsepe League and then to the Motsepe Foundation Championship, but you say you know how to use muti. You are just doing your thing in the villages. You can't even help a team win promotion, then you come and tell me about muti? Alisebenzi iyeza (Muti doesn't work)! So, even with us, there was that mentality that muti works, but I ended up locking myself in my hotel room. I wouldn't partake in those things. But come match time, I'm the one who scores. Indidike ke wena (It always got to me), Lungas, when they give the credit to muti after a win, but after we lose, kuthiwa iyeza khange silisebenzise kakuhle, silibele ngamankazana, silibele butywala, silibele yintoni-ntoni (they say we didn't use the muti properly, that all we were busy with was women, alcohol, this and that). Why when we lose it's because of amankazana (women) and when we win they say muti works? That's where we disagreed, which would lead me to locking myself in.

Let's be honest, man, that was just you being you, ha, ha, ha.

I never grew up using muti. I know nothing about it. Trott (Moloto) then arrived and we as players called him into a meeting and pleaded with him to assist in stopping the practice of muti in the team. We knew the management would listen to him since he was someone they respected, as he came from Jo'burg. We told him, "We will play for you and we will also play for ourselves." Indeed, he went to management to tell them about our request and that's when we stopped using muti. In 1996, when we won the Coca Cola Cup, we were not using any of that stuff. We were not camping even. Well, as for whether someone woke up in the middle of the night to perform some rituals on the field, I wouldn't know. That was the least of my worries. There was one match where Kaizer Chiefs got kitted out in their kombi when they came to play us, for fear that we were using muti. I said even if you can get kitted out in the kombi, if sizakutya, sizakutya (we're going to beat you, we're going to beat you). True to my words, we beat them. That's just proof that muti doesn't work. One time we went to Jo'burg to play Jomo Cosmos and when we got there, all the seats in the dressing room were smeared with umsizi (powder), oil, Vaseline, you name it. We just wiped those things off and took our seats. We beat Cosmos and came back. Look, it's all in your mind. Yes, there are those who believe in it. Ufike kufefwa (You would find some people sprinkling) in some stadiums. I would say, "Fefani! Okusalayo (Sprinkle! At the end of the day), you are coming here, it's going to be 11 against 11 on the field." Then we would beat them after they went to all of that trouble. I don't ever want to see muti when it comes to football. Yes, you can tell me about muti for other purposes, but not for football.

Sure…

Even when I went to Mother City, I never used muti. It was a predominantly Coloured team. At (Bloemfontein) Celtic as well, nothing of that sort. I didn't understand it then and don't understand it now. It's like in the rural areas, if they say in my village there's a team that's using muti, I just say, "Hey v****ek, susa lonto! Jula lonto pha (buzz off, remove that thing! Throw it away)! How can you take R500, while you're such a poor team, just to go and buy muti? Go and play." Because you will end up doubting your talent and relying on the muti.

You say you would even lock yourself in your hotel room when it was time for those pre-match rituals.

No, Sturu (Pasiya, club boss) knew that I didn't want anything to do with it. I told him andizube ndiqatshulwa, ndibe nditsibana neebhekile ezithile (there's no way I'm going to be cut with a razor or have to jump over some beaker). I'm not going to do that. I would just lock myself in, and one thing I always made sure of was to go out there and perform every time. After the game, I would tell him, "You see I'm the one who's performing much better than those who took part in these rituals?" I think slowly but surely, the club got used to my attitude towards muti that they eventually never bothered me about it again.

You later joined Bloemfontein Celtic following a stint with Mother City and a second brief spell with Bush Bucks. How was your time there?

I signed there and then went straight to training. Well, there's no team where I went for a trial before signing on the dotted line. The young boys, like (Lebohang) Kukame, (Ace) Gulwa, (Abram) Nteo and (Siphiwe) Mkhonza… when I got to training, they did welcome me, but you could see this was not a genuine welcome. To make matters worse, I was the only Xhosa guy among Sotho-speaking teammates. I didn't mind about that though because I came there to do a job. I must say they tried ukwenza lonto yabo yokusa (to get up to their mischief), but after a week, I told them, "No, bafana bam (my boys), don't do this because one day you will be the one who's a newcomer in a team." Because what used to happen is that when you had to mark, you marked and then won the ball. You would then pass the ball to them, only for them to then pass it amongst each other. So, I told them, "I've been in this game for too long, so these things you are doing I'm used to them. Sanuyiqala noyiqala lento (Don't even start with it). For that matter, don't think I came here for trials. I signed long ago. So, you can do this and play, and then I will go and take my money (and leave)." The coach at the time was the late Styles Phumo and I told myself that I was going to let him know that this is what is happening, but I delayed in doing that with the hope that he would see it for himself. After a while, I called a meeting.

Really!?

I said, "Coach, there's something I want to get off my chest. There's a tendency among these boys of wanting me to do all the marking after they lose the ball. And they speak Sotho, saying stuff like, 'This Xhosa is lazy.' Andililo ivila mna, ndikhuthele kakhulu, qha ke andifuni ukwenziwa ikhuni lokoja, nditshiswe mna kubemnandi (A lazy person I am not, I'm a hard worker, but I don't want to be used as an object to please others). When I win the ball and pass it to them, they then pass it among each other. When they lose it, I must then mark it for them. I don't do that. From now onwards, when they lose the ball, I won't go and mark. You will see, as you'll also be watching." I told him, "Lo wathi ngemini ethile (This one said this on that day), lo wathi ngemini ethile, lo wathi ngemini ethile." I even told them, "Kaloku kudala ndahlala nabe Sotho (I've been living with Sotho people) from 1990, now it's 2001 bafana bam. So, I know Sotho and when you speak Sotho, I can hear you. The fact that I'm not responding is because I don't have an interest of engaging in whatever you are saying." They were like, "Yho! This guy, all this time he could hear us and see what we're doing!" Well, they apologised, and even the coach apologised on their behalf, saying he could see what was happening but wanted to see how it was all going to further unfold. I said, "No, uyivule kakhulu (you've let it go on for too long). They were now going to do a lot of damage." From that day, I became good friends with those boys, which is the case to this day. So, that was the situation, but I quickly put them in their place and told them, "Mandingaqheleki kaloku. Ningayenza lonto (Don't you dare disrespect me. You can do that), but not kum (to me). This may happen to you in another province. If a person fails, he must fail due to his own reasons and not because of you guys." I started to earn their respect from that day. Those are the battles you have to fight as a footballer and if you are a quiet person, you won't withstand it. I'm that 'take it or leave it' kind of a person because, after all, we are there because of work.