Itumeleng Molefi, a man who played with the likes of Gift Leremi, Lebohang Mokoena and Phumudzo Manenzhe in the Orlando Pirates development, was released from prison last year after serving almost 10 years for the murder of his child but has taken charge of his life by opening his own sneaker care company.
While his peers were promoted to the first team at Pirates in the early 2000s, the life of a teenage Molefi took a different turn. Raised in Soweto, Molefi was part of the first group of players in the Pirates academy during the late 90s and had hoped that he would go on to become a success in the first team.
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Molefi got as far as the Pirates reserve team and when he thought his chance in the senior side had come, the Buccaneers loaned him out and he never returned to the club.
"I started at Pirates when I was 12 or 13. It was before the original development came. We became part of the first development side of Pirates when Augusto Palacios was there. I played for Pirates under-15, 17, 19, 20 and the reserve side known as Yebo Yes. I was playing with (the late) Gift Leremi, Phumudzo Manenzhe and Lebohang Mokoena. Those guys were promoted, but I was loaned out to a a NFD team in Katlehong called City Sharks. Finally, City sharks bought me and I became their player, but the team was relegated to what was then known as the Vodacom League," Molefi said to the Siya crew.
"I played for a team called Orlando Kwaitos. It was playing in the Vodacom League and then it was bought by Azziz Kara of FC AK. He bought the whole team and players. Then they froze the owner's assets and stuff and then I decided to quit football in 2007 and I got as a job as a salesman at Game at Northgate Mall."
His career might not have gone according to plan, but his personal life was going pretty well. Molefi got married to his high school sweetheart and they had a child together.
"I got married to my childhood girlfriend in 2011. We had a little baby boy, but I found out that my wife was cheating on me and I decided to leave. Within a week, they called elders from both families to speak to us about marriage. We got back together, but I found out that she was still continuing with the same guy. I found messages on her phone and I told her that the marriage was not working. I decided to leave and go back to my family home," he said.
"On the day of the scene, she called me and said she wanted to speak to me face to face. Our child was one-year and four months. She was busy with her phone and I could see that she was still speaking to the game that she had been cheating with. It was what she said that changed everything. She stood up and said the kid was not mine. The monster in me came out and I had his pocket knife. I tried to stab her and then she blocked with the child. I stabbed the child on the neck."
Devastated by what had happened, Molefi asked his older brother to take him to the police station to hand himself over for the crime he committed.
"By the time I got home, my ex-wife had already called my mother. My mother was saying 'Tumi, what did you do?' The same night, I went out to go clear my mind and then at around 4am the next day, I called my older brother to take me to the police station to turn myself in. I told them what I did and that the child had died.
"I spent seven months waiting trial and I was sentence in June 2014. I was sentenced to 15 years for murder. I was at Sun City prison in Johannesburg for five years. After that, I went to Leeuwkop and I was released last year. I spent about nine years and eight months, almost 10 years."
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Molefi was quite popular in prison and it had a lot to do with his talent as a footballer. He describes that he actually enjoyed his football more in prison than he did as a professional.
"Life in prison is difficult. I was fortunate because if you play football and you are very good, they keep you there because you know how to play soccer. You don't get transferred a lot to other prisons. So, I was kept there even though I was on the transfer list. They don't send out the ones who are good at football because they want football to be nice. There is a league and there are tournaments. You can sign a contract with a team in prison and they give you a bed, because in prison you can wait for a bed for a long time because of overcrowding.
"They maintain you for those three years because every team in prison has a chairman, secretary and so on. The biggest team at Sun City was Sundowns and I got signed to it. I was enjoying football more than I was on the outside. It was the same at Leeuwkop prison and I played for a team called Ajax."
With a criminal record, getting a job was not easy but he has been able to support himself by starting a sneaker care company. Molefi has turned his life around and has put everything that happened behind him. The 40-year-old got to find out the the kid he murdered was in fact his, but he has not allowed his past to stop him from living.
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