ALI MPHAKI
A MAN with the gift of the gab who could easily quote African writers like Ayi-Kwei Armah, Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Chinua Achebe, former Orlando Pirates director and public relations officer Skhumbuzo Jerome Mthembu was no pushover.
Goal-oriented, focused and selfless, Mthembu, 64, was a true epitome of the adage “Once a Pirate, always a Pirate”. Even though he was no longer active at Pirates, his friends and colleagues in football say his blood was black and white, which are the colours of the team he loved – “Amabhakabhaka”.
Mthembu died at a hospital in Sebokeng last Thursday after a short illness.
The eldest child in a family of seven, Mthembu did not have an ideal childhood. The divorce of his parents in 1962, when he was 14, nearly derailed his ambitions.
Raised by his mother, who was struggling to obtain her own house, there is no suburb in Soweto that Mthembu did not live in. His close friends would sometimes tease him that with his knowledge of the township, he could have easily become the mayor of Soweto.
It is no secret that many soccer administrators have never played football, even at amateur level. Mthembu was different because he used to be an important cog in the machinery of the erstwhile mighty Zola Grasshoppers, where he played with the likes of Moroka Swallows defender Norman “Goal Power” Makhehla, to name just one.
He abandoned his soccer boots when he went to Swaziland to do his matric in the late 1960s.
Once back in South Africa, and armed with a matric certificate and a determination to play a role in his community, Mthembu worked closely with underground structures of the ANC – an act that saw him detained by the security police from time time.
But while doing political work, he could not divorce himself from his big love, Orlando Pirates.
It did not come as a surprise when he threw in his lot with Bucs in the early 1980s, and it was not long before his talents were recognised and he was given the role of being the team’s spokesman. His younger brother Sizwe claims it was Mthembu who lured soccer supremo Irvin Khoza into joining the Orlando-based team.
What Mthembu’s family will always cherish about him is that he did not abrogate his responsibilities and bought a house for his mother and siblings in Orlando East, which they still occupy.
After his spell at Bucs, Mthembu was sentenced to 15 years in prison for armed robbery, and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. He was convicted and sentenced on October 3, 2001 in the Vereeniging Regional Court, but started serving his sentence only when he was arrested at his home on April 3, 2009 – more than six years after the Supreme Court of Appeal rejected his appeal.
Former Moroka Swallows PRO Godfrey Gxowa said Mthembu worked diligently for Pirates and his role as a PRO for the team was more than just a job. “Pirates was a part of him and he was a part of Pirates. He gave his all for football in this country.”
Mthembu, who was never married, is survived by his siblings and several children. He will be buried on Sunday after a service at the Orlando Communal Hall at 7am. The cortege will proceed to the Lenasia cemetery at 9am.