It is often said that any foreigner who comes to ply his trade in the PSL needs to be better than the talent available locally, and only an unreasonable person would say Kennedy Mweene fell short of that standard. Having so far spent two years short of 20 years in South Africa, he is considered an insider from the outside. Focused, determined and clean-living, you never read a bad story about him in the press during a playing career that uprooted him from his home country of Zambia to the modest town of Bethlehem, where he turned out for Free State Stars as from 2005, before Mamelodi Sundowns came calling some seven years later. The Lusaka-born man may not have necessarily played as much as he would have wanted at the Chloorkop-based side, but when he hung up his boots in July this year, the former goalkeeper left a legacy of a fantastic athlete who was the life of the dressing room, always ready to step in whenever called upon. In this interview, Soccer Laduma’s Zola Doda relives the life and times of Kennedy Mweene inside the pitch with the man himself. Enjoy the reminiscences!
Zola Doda: Kennedy, first and foremost, how is life after retirement?
Kennedy Mweene: I think I’m fortunate that after I retired from playing, I was appointed the assistant goalkeeper coach (at Mamelodi Sundowns). Everything is more or less the same, it’s positions that have changed. But everything is still the same. I have realised that there’s a lot of work now that is done behind the scenes. As a player, I knew that the programme was designed by the coaches and all of a sudden now I’m one of the people who are designing the programme. But it’s something I’m passionate about… I’m enjoying it!
