Komphela’s Empathy: Understanding Ntseki’s Struggles

Moroka Swallows coach Steve Komphela has expressed his sympathy for Kaizer Chiefs counterpart Molefi Ntseki on what he is going through, reiterating that South Africa is a country of little patience.

Coach Ntseki was once again pelted with missiles as Chiefs crashed out in the Carling Knockout Cup in the Round of 16 at the hands of AmaZulu at FNB Stadium on Saturday.

It was the umpteenth time Chiefs have seen fans throw missiles at the coach and the PSL are expected come hard and enforce a stadium lockout as previously indicated by PSL prosecutor Zola Majavu.     

As they lost, it means they will end 2023 without winning any silverware. The only hope to end the barren spell of years without a trophy are the DStv Premiership title and Nedbank Cup, even the league title already looks like it’s out of reach.

Komphela said that Chiefs fans, who once wanted to eat him alive during his time at the club between the 2015/16 and 2017/18 seasons before it was cut prematurely, need to be patient with Ntseki.

“I’m like a duck, guys,” said Komphela after Swallows lost 2-1 to Richards Bay at King Zwelithini Stadium in the Round of 16 on Sunday.

“Water just goes down, I don’t feel anything! I don’t hear anything! I just pity people who get embedded in stuff that is not progressive, I go beyond that and I don’t have a problem…

“When you did not win a trophy, why does it have to be such a sin? If people look at the process and then you realize that ‘okay, we lost and we don’t see what is happening’, it is a sin. But nobody has God given birthright to win all the matches.

“However, when you lose in a manner that doesn’t show any signs of progress, there is a real cause for concern to say, ‘wait a minute, we don’t see where we are going’.

“But if you don’t have a product that you are building, if you don’t have something that you are working on and winning, you are not progressing. If you have something that you are building and you are not winning, you are winning in the sense that you are building a product…

“The only mistakes in South Africa, they don’t wait for the process. As a result of the lack of process, it won’t click – nothing will happen. What Sundowns has gone through over the years to develop a machine like this – beyond envy, we are jealous about it, which is not normal that this thing is just too difficult to beat.

“It is because of years and years of building. At Kaizer Chiefs, in the 2015/16 season, we lost only six matches. In the 2016/17 season, we lost six matches, the whole season. 2017/18, ask me how many matches did we lose? We lost another six. That tells you, ‘wait a minute, this thing is about to click’. Any league, if you lose six matches, you are likely to be the champion. What [stopped] Chiefs not being champions [when I was there] it was too many draws.”     

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Chiefs, down the years, were known as Cup Kings, but they have painfully lost that aura, going without silverware for more than eight years now.

Komphela was then asked by iDiski Times whether the lack of patience is not acceptable at Chiefs because of the monster the club used to be, winning trophies

“Well, you could say that,” he replied.

Before adding, “Go to Liverpool, go to Manchester United, go to Arsenal. Liverpool had to get Virgil Van Dijk and the goalkeeper [Alisson Becker] and as soon as they got Van Dijk and the ‘keeper, it clicked…

“It is the same discussion I had with Screamer Tshabalala when they were heavily involved at Orlando Pirates. I said, ‘the only thing that you need to look at’, I’m not advising Pirates but it is a football discussion, ‘have a look at Liverpool. The Liverpool scenario is a possibility that might outwit you’.

“If you look at Pirates – was coming and coming and they always had problems with goalkeeper and centre-backs apart until they got Thapelo Xoki and Nkosinathi Sibisi and goalkeeper, it clicked.”