For local football agent Alpheus Thantsha the focus on helping aspiring professional footballers to realise their dreams has had to constantly shift in recent times, as he had to also look over his shoulder in fear of losing his life, and he has explained why, speaking exclusively to the Siya crew.
Ever since he was young, all that Thantsha dreamt of was to help kids especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds to become professional footballers.
In his early 20s, he had already established his own academy for boys in Tshwane despite his limited resources, having come from Polokwane with no substantial funding for his vision.
One of Thantsha's success stories include that of helping of then young Tebogo Letlhake who went for a trial in Spain and played there briefly, before he came back home to try elsewhere prior to finishing his career at Polokwane City Rovers.
However, as Thantsha reveals to the Siya crew in an exclusive interview, there seems to be extremely scary factors affecting his progress, his dedication to the game, as well as his pursuit of talent identification, as we find out directly from him.
The Good
"I have always been passionate about helping aspiring footballers to realise their dreams, and that's why I took a young South African footballer to Spain. He was involved in a trial that had about 10 000 players from all over the world. The boy made it to the top 20. That's an example of how much talent we have in this country. So, if the national team selection is purely based on merit, I can tell right now, we can actually be rated among the best in African or world football, because we've got talent," said Thantsha.
The Bad
"We know there's always going to be politics of no, this one is playing over here and all that. But why then do we have these kinds of politics in junior national teams? I want to say this, and on the Soccer Laduma platform that if I die and it's not natural, then everybody in South Africa must know that l was killed by football people and not just small football people, football bosses in this country because those are the only enemies that I have. So, if Alpheus Thantsha dies any time, as long as it's not natural, the authorities should investigate. And if it's an accident, or anything like that, they must investigate how it happened. If it's not a normal death by natural causes, chances are it will mean that I am killed by people who are involved in football because I don't have any other enemies. I'm a very clean person," he said.
The Ugly
"Now the reason I'm targeted is because I am a football custodian in my own way. I am a football guardian in my own way, and I refuse to watch nonsense happening under my watch because these things, they happen, and nothing is being done. So, it's only those who've got a voice who can go out there and speak. I'm one of those people who want to get the truth out there and speak openly. Now because of that, I'm being questioned, and I'm being threatened and then I am not safe. The other thing that I will tell you, we had a tournament called Pirates Cup recently and then I chased some of the players away, because it was said that they were very misbehaving and everything. I chased them from the academy. I thought, no, go just before the tournament. About a week after I chased them away, I heard that those players had started squatting, and stayed together with others in the rooms and whatever. Okay, I had no problem. Then I received a WhatsApp message from someone who introduced himself as a journalist saying to me, 'My brother, there is a boy who's accusing you of attempting to sleep with him. He told me a little bit of a story.' I took all the messages where the boys pleaded with me to stay in the academy and I sent them to him, and then he decided to stop with his story," added Thantsha.
'Those people promise kids what we can't give'
"The problem is you guys (in the media) don't know how these people operate. These boys are not motivating themselves, there is always somebody behind them who tell them to do things. There are people behind these kids who are making them accuse innocent people of things, and those people promise them things that we can't give. There are things that I can't give, and there are things that as a I can give. The only thing that I can give a player is an opportunity to go for trials at different clubs. It is those attempts I make that put all the relationships I make on the line because people end up saying, 'You ask too many questions, you talk to the media and all that. I am not safe, and I am targeted, and that is all because I speak the truth, and there is no other reason," he concluded.
For an in-depth interview with Thantsha where he talks more about his frightening and near-death experiences, read all about it in this week's Soccer Laduma and tell us what you think.
