Humour or racism? David Kekana on SABC last night... "This umlungu uyadlisa" or "the white man is making us lose"

THIS is the moment - all poorly-filmed 12 seconds of it - when SABC analyst David Kekana put his foot in his mouth on Thomas Mlambo's otherwise excellent Monday night show SoccerZone.


The sound ain't great. But here's what happened. Asked about whether he preferred Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Brilliant Khuzwayo or Belgium-based Darren Keet to play in goal for South Africa during the AFCON 2015 tournament, Kekana made no bones about it. He said he preferred Itumeleng Khune's 24-year-old stand-in at the AmaKhosi and said: "This mlungu uyadlisa" or "the white man is costing us" when referring to Cape Town-born Keet, .


I have no problem with the use of the word umlungu. This very morning my t-shirt was emblazoned with the word, which means "white guy" and Bafana Bafana captain Dean Furman knows when that word is chanted around the stadium, it is not used in a derogatory sense.

WHAT IT SAYS ON THE SHIRT: particularly
ugly example of the race group Mlungu

But linked with the idea that Keet is in someway inferior - so far he has barely put a foot (or a hand) wrong in the national jersey - it comes across as deeply offensive. And as my twitter followers immediately pointed out last night, RACIST.


I've looked up "uyasidlisa". On google, the confusing response in English was "Iranians" (go on, try it) but most suggest it means "helping us to lose" with the "uya" suggesting defeat and "sidlisa" his role in the side.Scelo Nciki (@scubkae1 on twitter) and many others helped me with that. 


Twitter on the whole blasted Kekana, not just for his utterance but for his on-screen performance generally, suggesting a lot of his "jokes" fall flat. When I retweeted some of those messages, Kekana stayed silent. The debate raged but generally the reaction was: Imagine if a white analyst had said: "The darkie is letting us down". Unthinkable.


Ultimately, that is the bottom-line. Using race to single a man out for criticism has long been a problem in South Africa.


The question is: in post-Aparthate South Africa how seriously should be take black racism against white folk, after those long years of pale oppression? Clearly white-on-black racism has always been the major problem. But are we now democratic enough to see both sides of this particularly ugly coin? After 21 years, I'd argue: It's time to stop judging on race, time to end the awful habit of declaring ANYTHING on the basis of skin colour.


Around 90% of the tweets agreed with me as we went to bed, only to wake up this morning with THESE tweets from @davidkekana:


"I was asked a comparative question about Keet and Khuzwayo I said he conceded 33 goals in 21 matches for club"


"In African terms someone with a white hue is referred to as Umlungu. Nothing racist about that."


"Well I am married to an Umlungu, so I get told every day when I walk the streets with my wife"


I pointed out that I know several white men who, though married across the colour-line, hold racist views. When I recommended a course in broadcasting, he responded: "Neil (sic) I have done media law and hold a bachelors degree. Please don't insult me."


I said no slight was intended and asked him to apologise, he responded: "To please you Neil?"


I said no, just to prove he was a decent bloke. That was followed by: "I did not judge him based on his colour! It's your interpretation and not a fact"


I pointed out that "umlungu" suggested he had immediately zoned in on to Keet's colour. Kekana, refusing to apologise or accept responsibility for his words, then tweeted: "Neil, I have better things to be concerned with than you. You are the list (sic) of my concern."


And then came the cracker. The response of all racists under fire: "Like all racist (sic) Neal has to point fingers. Does that sound like turning the wheel back to an era?"


By then Kekana was trending on South African twitter as the nation vented their feelings. You can read the tweets online now if you want. Some came to Kekana's defence, but most agreed: "Please apologise, it's the right thing to do". That is, in my view, still the dominant feeling.

Seconds ago, Kekana sent this: "I said Mlungu Oyadlisa, cause he conceded 33 goals in 21 games in Belgium. Get your Zulu interpreter to interpret that."

As I write, there has been no response from the national broadcaster nor Thomas Mlambo, the presenter of SoccerZone and a man who I consider a friend. We did Euro2012 together. Mlambo, as you can see in the video footage, attempted to put a sock in Kekana's mouth as the incident unfolded and after the ad break, he came close to an apology for his colleague's sentiments.


But there has been no apology from Kekana. It's not like we are asking for a pint of blood. Just a simple sorry. If a white man were to say such things of a black player - particularly on the rugby or cricket channels - all hell would break loose.


With Bafana preparing to play Mali in their final friendly tomorrow - and Keet ready to play after a lightning-quick trip home to see his new-born son Leighton - this story may linger. But I hope not. All it would take is a quick "sorry" and we could leave this all behind.


But to ignore it, to let it go, would be WRONG. Racism is NOT ACCEPTABLE. Especially on SABC1, our national broadcasters' flag-ship channel.


Or perhaps I'm wrong and I've been WRONG all my life. Perhaps it's acceptable. Perhaps racism is still okay in South Africa. You tell me, David Kekana.


I left South Africa in 1985 because I just couldn't stand Aparthate any more. I was a young sports writer appalled by what I came across every day working in Umlazi and KwaMashu. I abhor racism, I was arrested and had my telephone bugged for dating a black woman in Durban. I returned to this country in 2010 to cover the World Cup... and came back to look after my elderly father... and because I thought we'd moved beyond the crude divide-and-rule politics of the Boer.


I didn't raise this topic, ordinary South Africans did, the minute they saw you say it. Ask them what you should do, David. We are all South Africans. We are equal. Darren Keet. Even me.



If Kekana, whom I have only met briefly, has a problem with any of this, he has my telephone number. I'd love to hear a reasonable response.

Brilliant day for Bafana Bafana; a bad day for illegal guns. Hopefully.

The chosen one: Brilliant Khuzwayo

RARELY has a national football association had a tougher week to deal with. The loss of a current international captain is, thankfully, unique but utterly devastating. Yet the South African Football Association coped admirably.

Danny Jordaan, president for just over a year, has led with dignity throughout the Senzo Meyiwa tragedy – and in his unveiling of a gun amnesty in honour of our fallen captain, Jordaan deserves all the help he can get in a nation where all sections of the population love to keep a weapon in the closet.

Jordaan, a curious combination of authority and bashfulness, wheeled out some real big guns to back a campaign which will end with a Senzo statue (made up of melted gun metal) at SAFA House, right outside 2010 World Cup Final venue Soccer City.

Jordaan and Norman Arendse lead a group including human rights lawyer George Bizos, Gun Free South Africa’s Adele Kirsten, football legend Jomo Sono and THREE judges amongst others.

Not the Bafana squad; Jordaan and gun amnesty team

Jordaan captured the moment well: “It was Madiba who told us “Throw your weapons in the sea”.Guns destroy our society. We need your help to build this statue.”

I first tweeted about a gun amnesty in honour of Senzo on October 27 (see picture below) suggesting it was the one way Meyiwa's death might bring something positive.

On a day when Bafana and Bidvest Wits star Sbu Vilakazi revealed his parent’s home had been subjected to an armed robbery in Soweto last Saturday, Bizos said: "It usually takes a tragedy for people, a country, to say something needs to happen as a matter of urgency. It's not only about the death of the wonderful goalkeeper but also of the other 17 deaths that occurred that day. It's a matter that needs to concern every one of us, every citizen.”

Jordaan has achieved stability on the pitch too. With all our national teams showing signs of improvement, he then turned to Shakes Mashaba to announce the squad which will play Sudan at home (at the Moses Mabhida in honour of Senzo) on November 15 and Nigeria away on November 19, saying: “I have no idea what the team will be…”

Mashaba handled his role well too. He spoke of the pain of having to erase Senzo’s name at the top of the list and gave us Brilliant Khuzwayo and Siyabonga Mpontshane as Meyiwa’s goalkeeping replacements.

He also recalled May Mahlangu and Lehlohonolo Majoro for the first time since Gordon Igesund’s tenure, overlooking the claims of Kamahelo Mokotjo and David Zulu. Much could be said about those decisions.  But for now, #shakesknowsbest is the hashtag after four games, two wins and two draws leave Bafana needing just two points to ensure qualification for the Ebola-threatened African Cup of Nations in Morocco, scheduled for mid-January next year.

Tribute to Senzo: My gun amnesty tweet, Oct 27

It’s the goalkeeping situation which intrigues. Ronwen Williams, the SuperSport United stopper, was seen as the young pretender under Itumeleng Khune when Igesund ruled the roost. Moeneeb Josephs had even been mentioned.

But Khune’s Kaizer Chiefs stand-in Khuzwayo, a regular for Mashaba’s Under 20s, got the nod along with Mpontshane, not always the first choice at Platinum Stars.

Though Belgium-based Darren Keet should start against Sudan, Shakes may well turn to Khuzwayo, who is older than Williams but, paradoxically, less experienced. Remember, in those opening four Group A qualifiers, Senzo and South Africa have not conceded a goal despite the absence of Khune, injured before the opening trip to Sudan.

Up front, Majoro and Orlando Pirates team-mate Kermit Erasmus may get the chance to renew their club partnership, though Tokelo Rantie scored twice for Bournemouth in England last week. At the back, Tefu Mashamaite could grab the captain’s armband next to his Chiefs team-mate Tower Mathoho.

But this is Shakes. He doesn’t do the obvious. Young Rivaldo Coetzee from Ajax Cape Town started next to Mathoho against Congo, and though he lacks MashaMIGHTY’s physique and experience, the 18-year-old could enjoy a repeat performance; he didn't do a bad job.

Throughout his short spell, Mashaba has confounded the critics and gone his own way. While the likes of Ayanda Patosi, Mokotjo and Siyanda Xulu will spend the international break thousands of kilometres away, few can argue about saving on the air tickets if Bafana get the win they need next week.

My Bafana Bafana line-up would look like this: Keet; Ngcongca, Mathoho, MashaMIGHTY (capt), Khumalo; Serero, Mahlangu, Jali, Furman; Erasmus, Majoro.

It makes sense to me. Renew those club partnerships at centre-back and centre-forward; keep last year's PSL player of the year Vilakazi and Rantie as impact subs if the goals won't come, rely on Keet's experience.

But given Mr Mashaba’s ability to surprise, he may go with Khuzwayo; Ngcongca, Mathoho, Coetzee, Khumalo; Masango, Manyisa, Jali (captain), Furman; Ndulula, Rantie.

For now, #shakesknowsbest. And so does Danny Jordaan. We can only hope for plenty of shots and dozens of guns for SAFA over the coming weeks.

The season of Senzo: South African football begins the long, difficult struggle to return to normality

The final farewell: Orlando Pirates players sing for Senzo

This will be the season of Senzo Meyiwa. And not just for Orlando Pirates, whose grieving players so memorably sang him to his resting place at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday.

It will be all about Senzo, the Bafana Bafana goalkeeper shot in his prime. No matter how long the Kaizer Chiefs unbeaten run guns on; no matter how Sundowns and the AmaKhosi do in the African Champions League; no matter which club steps forward to claim the Telkom KO and Nedbank Cup. Whether the AFCON championship goes ahead in Morocco or not.

Every sad step of the rest of this summer will be played against the backdrop of enormous loss.  The senseless nature of his death and the sudden departure of a 27-year-old who did not concede a goal in four AFCON qualifiers under Shakes Mashaba makes that inevitable.

With Orlando Pirates scheduled game tonight (Tuesday) against Platinum Stars called off and the Bafana Bafana squad announcement delayed until tomorrow, we have not yet become accustomed to the hole left by the striker-turned-custodian who left uMlazi with borrowed boots aged 13.

Tomorrow Danny Jordaan will announce an amnesty on illegal guns, with the promise of a statue outside SAFA House erected from the melted-down weapons. National coach Mashaba will name a new No1 and captain from a pool featuring Belgian-based Darren Keet, experienced Wits University No 1 Moeneeb Josephs and SuperSport United’s forgotten man Ronwen Williams.

Personally I think Shakes, as is his custom, will go for the unexpected and call up Kaizer Chiefs stand-in Brilliant Khuzwayo, the man who replaced Itumeleng Khune, for the game against Sudan on November 15; a clash moved to the Moses Mabhida in honour of Meyiwa.

Find the killers: fans at the funeral

As for Pirates, when they resume their campaign in the Telkom KO semi-final against SuperSport on Saturday, they have two alternatives Brighton Mhlongo, 23, or Philani Zikala, 31, to fill Senzo’s golden gloves.

Mhlongo has the Meyiwa feel to him: nine years in the Pirates structure, a couple of appearances in the first team behind Senzo and Fatau Dauda over the last year, a spell with FC AK three years ago.

There are reports of SAFA and the PSL allowing Pirates to sign a contracted goalkeeper outside of the transfer window due to the extra-ordinary nature of events last week. But goalkeeping gems are rare and risky, especially when you have a popular back-up like Mhlongo, who appeared to lead the singing for Senzo while God wept His slow, sullen drizzle over Durban on Saturday.

From the little we’ve seen of him, he looks like the right man rather than Zikalala, the former AmaZulu stopper who has yet to don the jersey. Former Pirates coach Augusto Palacios, the head of development at the club, reckons: “Brighton learned a lot from Senzo and he’s played for South Africa’s Under 23s. I don’t think they need to sign a new goalkeeper, Mhlongo can do the job.”

Those are the first stages of a nation’s rehabilitation: Senzo’s replacement at national and club level. Next, we will ease our pain by discussing how BafanaBafana and Orlando Pirates are coping without their Captain, our Captain.Will they come roaring back as a tribute to their departed team-mate or struggle with the weight of their loss?


I chanced across the Orlando Pirates players at King Shaka Airport after the funeral and shook hands with a bemused Vladimir Vermecovic. He knows how hard the task of rehabilitation will be. The loss of a player due to injury or suspension can unbalance the best of teams: to lose their captain and goalkeeper under these circumstances is a blow few clubs ever have to deal with. The Buccaneers themselves will measure the grief on the field as a further step forward.

Then comes the Mandisa versus Kelly debate as the estate (including the much discussed BMW X6) is carved up. The apprehension and charging of three suspects (or the failure to do so) and the debate over gun crime in Mzanzi. The naming of academies, stadiums and streets after our fallen hero. The gun-metal statue, which I think would be an eminently suitable memorable.

It will be a long and difficult road to recovery for football-speaking South Africa. Nobody doubts that. But what we can do without are the trolls, the jokers, the fascists who chip away at the whole sorry saga.

How a man like Gareth Cliff, a popular Idols judge who proclaims himself a "new South African" can sit watching a ceremony of such deep sorrow and think of tweeting: "Who is paying for this massive funeral" is entirely beyond me. Such a thought, let alone a public sentiment, betrays a deep malaise in South Africa, even among the so-called liberals. A deep misunderstanding of the dominant culture, cruelly surpressed for so long under Apartheid.

It wasn't the question which irked, it was the timing. The airport lounge I was sat in reflected the two camps quite brilliantly. The real Mzanzi watching the singing, the sadness, the who ceremony with deep respect and sadness, the old South Africa frowning, questioning, angry and confused.

But generally the nation has come together to commemorate the death of Our Captain. That in itself offers a glimmer of hope in a nation divided rather than united by sport, race and crime since the heady days of Nelson Mandela’s post-democratic Rainbow Nation.


The likes of Steve Hofmeyr, Dan Roodt and apparently even Gareth Cliff and his paler friends no longer rule this country or dictate its mood. The vast majority are stunned and saddened by Senzo's sudden death. The mourning has begun, the recovery is in progress, we unite in anger and celebration. Let’s try to carry on that way.

  

A shortened version of this story appears as my Neal and Pray column in today's www.thenewage.co.za.

From Brilliant to Salt 'n Vinegar: unbeaten Kaizer Chiefs are left with one problem: KHUNE

Brilliant: Nhlanhla Khuzwayo, Man of the Match

PERHAPS we should let Willard Katsande, my favourite defensive midfielder, explain how Kaizer Chiefs ended their trophy drought in Durban on Saturday.

I interviewed the 28-year-old Zimbabwean on Soccerballz, my “visual radio show” last week. He was superb. When I reminded him he scored the first and only goal of his AmaKhosi career in a Soweto Derby last March, he was typically modest.

Nominated on the three-man short-list for last season’s PSL player of the year award, Katsande said: “It was nice to score my first goal against Orlando Pirates but my job is to win the ball, balance the defence – and cut down on my yellow cards.”

After Tefu Mashamaite’s goal had defeated the Buccaneers at a packed Moses Mabhida Stadium and secured the R8million MTN8 winners’ cheque on Satuday, Katsande had done exactly what he said he would.

Tireless running, constant harrying, winning possession, making the easy pass. Sure, Itumeleng Khune’s goalkeeping replacement Brilliant Khuzwayo won the Man of the Match award for a string of good saves, but it was Katsande who, once more, provided the platform for Stuart Baxter.

Katsande told Robert Marawa on SuperSport after the trophy lifting celebrations: "First of all we need to thank god for this victory, it means a lot as you can see, we worked very hard.

"We managed stick to coaches game plan, it was a good game, both teams wanted to win.

"Coach Baxter always told me, I'm the engine of the team, I have to win every ball and I have to break down the oppositions attacks, so my job is too balance the team, give cover for my back four.”

As the Orlando Pirates post mortem began across the social networks, there was widespread disappointment with Vladimir Vermecovic, the Serbian coach once in charge at Naturena.

Many times before the game I suggest the only way to ruffle the unbeaten, rock-solid Chiefs defence would be to start with BOTH Lehlohonolo Majoro and Kermit Erasmus. But VV chose to leave Major on the bench once more and in a first half where the AmaKhosi played some serious passing football in the Barcelona (or even Arsenal) manner, Erasmus was an isolated figure up front.

With the ever-improving Tower Mathoho and scorer Mashamaite doubling up on Kermit, Pirates simply failed to create enough chances. Majoro’s arrival was too little too late, as was the sending on of Mpho Makola who was mysteriously dropped after an impressive run of early-season form.

Pirates will, no doubt recover. Though Chiefs are on a ten-match unbeaten run, the Buccaneers have recovered from a dodgy start to move up to third in the PSL. If VV has the courage, Erasmus and Majoro can yet provide the two-pronged fire-power to keep the Sea Robbers in the hunt.

For Chiefs, one slight problem looms. Nhlanhla Khuzwayo, whose “Brilliant” form shouldn’t really have surprised us given his early rave reviews as South Africa’s Under 23 goalkeeper, has now tasted the glory.

He blossomed in front of 64,000 fans and loved every minute. Afterwards he glowed: "Thanks to my family, my girlfriend, my brothers, my friends, everyone who believed in me, Itumeleng Khune, he was like motivating me all the time since I came to Kaizer Chiefs, he is just an inspiration to me.

"Thanks to the technical team, my players, the whole team, the gardeners that clean our fields, everyone who made this a success for us, thank you to everyone, this is for them, this is for them and my family, my kids, most of all, I love them with all my hearts.

"It means everything to me, having to go out onto the field and represent yourself, represent your soul and how you feel inside, it is just an amazing feeling. It's my own backward, we're in KZN, I'm from KZN, it's just an inspiration for me to come play in KZN.

Forever fearless: Kaizer Chiefs, MTN8 winners

"This goes out to my mother, my late mother who passed away in 2006, this is why I am wearing number 16. When I was 16 years old she used to say, make me proud. When I was 16 she told me that."

Brilliant words. But any football coach, from your Under 9 boss to your high-powered international manager, will tell you how difficult it is to keep more than one goalkeeper happy in a squad.

In top level football, the substitution of goalkeepers is neither fashionable nor wise. A keeper subbed without injury is a keeper admonished. And the question is: what will Baxter do now that Khuzwayo has starred in a cup final? He also has top youngster Reyaad Pieterse as back up. Whisper it, but could Itumeleng Khune, the nation’s greatest goalkeeper, now become a sellable asset?