Kaizer Chiefs's sporting director Kaizer Motaung Jr. with the club's football manager Bobby Motaung during one of many losses suffered by the club this season. Some fans are pointing fingers at the duo for the club's recent poor showing.
Image: Independent Newspapers Archives
For Kaizer Chiefs, the long-held belief that supporters are the spiritual owners of football clubs could increasingly feel like a façade – unless something truly changes and the supporters' concerns are heard.
I want to start off by saying I do not condone violence. So I agree with the club's decision not to entertain the “promise of violence” that some of their fans, who recently marched to the club’s Village, threatened should there be no change of action regarding their grievances.
But with that said, it is fast becoming an ugly sight that the most supported team in the country still has fans marching to the Village “in protest” over poor results. It is also not the first time this has happened recently – the same thing occurred in 2021.
The Amakhosi faithful seem to be doing just about everything to rally behind the team through good and bad times, showing their support through regalia purchases, selling out stadiums and priding themselves on being “Khosi for life”.
Yet whenever they make suggestions or public pleas – including through “peacefully organised” marches to the club’s base to submit a memorandum of grievances – those often fall on deaf ears. The club bosses act almost as if they, and not anyone else, run the show.
Chiefs are navigating tough times. They are at rock-bottom as they head for a barren season after missing out on all cup trophies, while they have also fallen behind in the title race in the Betway Premiership over the last three weeks.
Understandably, supporters have called for accountability. Many have demanded the immediate release of co-coaches Cedric Kaze and Khalil Ben Youssef as they seem to be out of their depth and out of tune with the demands that come with coaching the club.
But instead of heeding the call, showing that they understand the frustration and are working hard to fix the situation, the club’s top suits have been silent.
If they are not making flimsy excuses about why they cannot reshuffle the technical team at this stage of the season, they are either in constant apology or making empty promises about acting accordingly.
When the sporting director of the club, Kaizer Motaung Junior, appointed Cedric Kaze and Khalil Ben Youssef, it didn’t take me being a sporting director, technical director, head coach or even a supporter of the club to understand that it was a ticking bomb.
For starters, it just didn’t make sense how the club would sack someone – for whatever reason – but still keep his assistants. One would imagine that the pair worked together because they shared visions and goals.
Add to the fact that while the duo may hold coaching credentials and previous gigs; they had no traceable record warranting them to coach a club of Chiefs’ calibre.
But Chiefs are used to waiting for a bomb to implode before reacting. I remember late in 2023 when they appointed Cavin Johnson to succeed Molefi Ntseki a few months into the season.
Johnson was promoted from his youth role with lofty billing, given his glowing résumé, which included being an assistant at the African Club of the Century, Al Ahly. But he failed to cut the mustard from the outset.
His team lacked fluidity and structure, while also lacking cohesiveness. Like the journeyman he is, he tried to explain the situation, but often without context and influence.
His tenure inevitably became a sorry story when he eventually finished outside the Top 8, aided by his failure to bolster the squad in January despite obvious signs during the first half of the season that the team lacked a goal poacher.
So forgive me – this all feels like déjà vu.
Chiefs had a chance to start the new year with a clean slate, bring in a coach who could lead the team in a different direction and perspective, while restoring confidence in the players.
But no, they chose to stick with Kaze and Ben Youssef.
The wheels have now come off, and it seems Junior is throwing them under the bus, saying nothing other than a top-two finish –which guarantees CAF Champions League football – will suffice this season.
Kaze has come to their defence, saying only a top-three finish is practical. It was an explanation that Amakhosi supporters didn’t bother to entertain, as they believe the club’s close ties with the coaches and players have resulted in their concerns being ignored.
The season has only two months left before it comes to an end, and Chiefs’ board and the team shouldn’t be surprised if they begin to see fewer bums on seats in stadiums unless fortunes change.
Supporters have done their bit to back the team this season, following them across the country. But they will feel increasingly invisible whenever they peacefully raise concerns.
*Mihlali Baleka is Independent Media's senior football reporter and a panelist on the group's soccer podcast, The D-Line, which is exclusive on our YouTube channel The Clutch