It’s sad that most people will remember Jabu Mahlangu more for the man who loved a glass of alcohol in his hand than the footballer who liked the ball at his feet.
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This went through my mind as the former Kaizer Chiefs and Bafana Bafana magician got out of his van for a quick interview before addressing the pupils of Kayamandi High School in the Kayamandi township on the outskirts of Stellenbosch.
Jabu got into my car for our chat with a drink in his hand, but it was of the coffee variety, a drink with a lot less sting than what he used to enjoy at 10am during those dark days of his alcohol addiction.
The coffee was still very hot, and after a little sip he removed some of the rubble from my car’s cup holder to put his coffee in a safe and stable place so he doesn’t burn both of us.
These days, he also seems to be in a stable and safe place mentally, and he is enjoying his new role as an ambassador for the Multichoice Diski Challenge (Reserve League).
Mahlangu was in Stellenbosch to give school kids advice and motivate them to not follow his path and throw away their talents.
The former midfielder is supposed to be one of the most decorated players this country has every produced.
Muhsin Ertugral said he was the most technically gifted player he has ever coached, and took him from Chiefs to Austria to play for SV Mattersburg.
After a great start to life in Europe, Mahlangu only lasted eight months before he was sent packing.
He was asked to leave the club after crashing his car while under the influence of alcohol.
“At that time I was young and my addiction to alcohol was my downfall,” he said.
“People didn’t know the environment I grew up in. They only know the Jabu Mahlangu, the Chiefs player on the field. They didn’t know the challenges I was dealing with everyday outside football.
“Muhsin resigned after 12 games, and I had to be strong. I had to say, ‘you know what I’m out of South Africa, I have got new people around me.’ The people there were showing me love.
“Unfortunately I wasn’t strong enough to say I can do this. I just wanted to come back home. In this game you need to be strong and you need to have a character to be mentally and physically strong.
“You miss your family and the weather, but that is the sacrifice you have to make to be successful.”
And that’s why Mahlangu and the Diski Challenge is such a good fit. His life experience is second to none, and the advice and life experience he can share with young and players.
Mahlangu says when he came through the ranks there wasn’t the sort of guidance for young players from the townships.
“These days there’s so much money in football, that players are also often exploited or led astray by so-called friends. It was the case with me also,” Mahlangu said.
“When I was young, we had players like Tebogo Moloi and Doctor Khumalo who were the senior players.
But we never had opportunities to meet with them or to talk to them or ask them questions,” Mahlangu said. “We never asked them things like ‘how do you stay on top of your game’, ‘how do you handle your fitness’ how do you stay focused’.
“We would just admire them from a distance. But now these players have the opportunities to interact with us, person to person.
“If this generation of players make the same mistakes that my generation did, they can only blame themselves because they have got the opportunity to get information.
I can come up with the excuse today that nobody taught me anything … because nobody taught me anything.”
Mahlangu hinted that his football days may be over after only recently signing a new contract with SuperSport United.
But he wants to plough back and maybe even get a job as a pundit one day.
It will bring down the curtain on one of most colourful and frustrating careers in South African football.
“I’m going to have a meeting with SuperSport over the next few days and then we will see the way forward. I’m not training with the team because I need to be here, because I’m fully engaged with this project,” he said.
“Football is something you get taught. I was born with that gift. And even if people say ‘eish, this guy wasted his chances’.
“But I feel a second chance in my new role and the future is bright for me.”
Hopefully the cup in the second chapter of Mahlangu’s life will be filled with joy and more than enough gourmet coffee. - Cape Times
Source :iol.co.za
