Lerato Chabangu learned the hard way that “gifts do not make a person, character does”
Last week, former Bafana Bafana and Mamelodi Sundowns legend, Lerato Chabangu, made his comeback in football, penning a six-month deal with Babirwa FC of the Motsepe ABC league.
The signing came after the 33-year-old Chabangu made front-page news in South African newspapers. He had “a fall from grace,” as a “homeless soccer star and drug addict.”
Courtesy: YouTube
It was most certainly a fall of epic proportions. Chabangu’s stardom, which dates back to the mid-two thousands, first came as a Sundowns player. And what a joy he was to watch!
Then he left for the Moorka Swallows in search of greener pastures. And it worked–at least for a while–largely because he had support from manager Gordon Igesund. After Igesund left the Swallows for the Bafana Bafana vacancy, Chabangu’s career hung by a thread–until he made a switch to Chippa United. But he didn’t last long. He missed practices and was caught up in drug use and partying.
Unlike many of his fellow countrymen–Ol John Mabizela and Junior Khanye, for example–at that point, Chabangu’s career was spared shame by those who cared for him. He avoided what has befallen so many gifted South African football players (past and modern)–players like Mkhyanisile Siwahla, Teko Modise, and Masibuzane Zongo–who never fulfilled expectations because temptations overwhelmed talent.
Courtesy: Amazon.com
That fate is described aptly by Hosea Ramphekwain his book, Gifted, Hunted, and Haunted: Why Trouble Haunts the Talented. “Being talented is a sin that should not go unpunished,” Ramphekwain writes. He asks: “Why do gifted people fall victims to all sorts of good things?”
And judging from the interview that Chabangu had last Wednesday with Robert Marawa on Marawa Worldwide Sports, the answer seems to be found in Paster Bankie’s words (from Beyond Gifts and Talent): “Gifts do not make a man, but character does.”
Chabangu told Marawa and his audience that he “was in the wrong space. I can’t really blame others. If you in the wrong space, negative things will catch you.”
What now? It wouldn’t surprise me to see Chabangu get back to his best. The first step is getting fit to play football.
