Moorosi Tsiane
THE country’s football fraternity recently woke up to the fantastic news that Likuena and LCS goalkeeper Samuel Ketsekile had signed a two-year contract with South African Premiership giants Mamelodi Sundowns.
This reportedly followed Ketsekile fantastic performance against Tanzania which saw Likuena reviving their hopes to qualify for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals to be staged in Cameroon.
Dida, as the towering goalkeeper is affectionately known, had to come out in numerous times to save the day for Likuena who beat the Taifa Stars 1-0 courtesy of a Nkau Lerotholi header.
For a long, Ketsekile time has been the second choice Likuena goalkeeper after Likano Mphuthi who is out injured.
But the ever humble Ketsekile seized the moment when he was given the nod to start against Tanzania.
Following that outstanding performance, the lanky LCS goal minder then received a call inviting him to Pretoria where he was promised a contract with Mamelodi Sundowns and the latter jumped at the opportunity and immediately drove to South Africa.
Unfortunately, our happiness was short lived as we only came to learn on Thursday morning that Ketsekile was actually added onto the list of numerous people who have been scammed in similar fashion.
Former Orlando Pirates ace, Benedict Vilakazi is one of the victims.
I don’t even want to think about the emotional breakdown that Dida is currently enduring right now.
Psychologically, he is obviously messed up and will need a really strong support structure to help him get over it.
While it is every local player’s dream to ply their trade in the big leagues around the continent, I hope this ordeal has opened the eyes of other players that they always have to verify first whether or not a deal is legitimate.
There were just too many issues that did not add up and I remember indicating this to a colleague of mine.
We even went to the extent of asking for photos from Mamelodi Sundowns premises from one person who claimed to be the player but they never came.
While the deal sounded too good to be true, indeed we must concede that we turned a blind eye to some issues for instance the fact that the goalkeeper’s coach was credited with awarding the player a contract which in essence is usually the job of a general manager.
I just hope our players will be more careful in the near future when dealing with matters like this one.
I feel for Dida and we encourage him to remain resolute, humble and work even harder.
I hope this whole episode will not break his spirit.
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