Durban City’s Nedbank Cup celebration overshadowed by Premier Ntuli’s political turn

COMMENT

It would take some serious mental gymnastics to explain how the speechwriter for KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli found a link between winning the Nedbank Cup and xenophobic violence in the province.

Somehow or other, on Sunday at the Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani in Durban, the premier decided to take a dark turn during his speech, while celebrating Durban City's Cup recent victory, overshadowing a night of celebration with talk about the violent crime statistics in the province.

Admittedly, the entire evening was put together by the KZN provincial government but you could feel the life being sucked out the room as he turned down 'election avenue'.

It was "unsportsmanlike" of the premier to force a group of young football players — who worked tirelessly for that Nedbank Cup trophy — to sit there and listen to politics that have nothing to do with them or their achievement.

Ntuli also touched on his support for the reinstatement of KZN police commissioner, General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, and stated that undocumented foreign nationals cannot expect good treatment in South Africa and the KZN, if they "come here illegally".

Ntuli did end off on a happy note with a symbolic gesture like no other. Ntuli gifted all players and coaching staff with a traditional umqhele and iWisa — a special tradition in Zulu and Ndebele culture which is considered an heirloom that can be passed down to descendants.

This was arguably the best moment of the evening, due to the sheer joy on the faces of the players, coaches and the club chairman Farook Kadodia. Some would argue that being recognised in such a fashion is worth more than R7 million the club won for their 2-1 victory over TS Galaxy in the final earlier this month.

Formalities aside, Kadodia met the media outside the conference hall to talk about the future of the club — most importantly, the plans for interim coach Pitso Dladla.

The 43-year-old doesn't have the required CAF A licence to coach the Citizens in the CAF Confederation Cup next season and will have to acquire the necessary papers or return to an assistant role at the club. Kadodia also said they will be out in the transfer market looking to purchase players for the new season, now that they are in pan-African competition.

"This really elevates the club's status, but that comes with its first challenge because we are going to the Confederation Cup, which will also make the province proud," Kadodia said. "We are happy that the youth are behind the team.

"We need a gateway of young players coming into the team and we plan to go to the drawing board immediately after our last game against AmaZulu (next weekend) and do what is necessary in terms of the Confederation Cup.

"It is not going to be an easy task. We will have to go into business to get the good players.

"This season was all about getting mileage. We couldn't really go out in full force to sponsors and other stakeholders, but the real negotiations start now.

"We will negotiate for Pitso’s qualifications for CAF. We will find a solution when we get there," Kadodia concluded.

Durban City travel to Johannesburg on Saturday, to face a rampant and desperate championship-chasing Orlando Prates at Orlando Stadium (kick-off 3pm) in the penultimate round of the Betway Premiership. The Citizens are currently seventh in the standings on 38 points and losses in their final two matches could see them fall out of the lucrative Top 8, a result they will be desperate to avoid.

Jehran Naidoo is sports reporter for Independent Media and social media coordinator of the our YouTube channel The Clutch.