EDITORIAL | Is the dysfunction of Kaizer Chiefs’ family business tarnishing the Soweto derby?

What are the similarities between Kaizer Chiefs and hit TV series Succession?

Some might find such a question perplexing as Chiefs prepare to meet Orlando Pirates in the Soweto derby — the headline match in the South African sporting calendar — in front of tens of thousands at FNB Stadium at 3.30pm on Saturday.

For the uninitiated, the HBO show, in a wildly entertaining manner, portrays the quest of four adult children — three siblings and a half-sibling, three males and a female — to put themselves forward to succeed Logan Roy, a fictional Rupert Murdoch-style owner of a broadcast empire not-so-loosely based on Fox News.

Brought up with silver spoons, the offspring are all wildly inadequate at business and their ideas have barely any basis in reality. Their efforts to impress the mogul who built an empire from nothing fall embarrassingly flat.

Their marketing is among the best of any sports team — many wonder why marketing director Jessica Motaung seems not to be the sibling being groomed to take over, rather than sporting director Kaizer Motaung Jnr

There are parallels with the Trump family, too. The reader familiar with the travails of Kaizer Chiefs going trophyless for what will be nine seasons in 2023/24 will point out the situations are far from identical, but there are similarities.

The Motaungs are wealthy but not among the super-rich like Murdochs or Trumps, and of course they and Kaizer Motaung Snr’s empire he built when Chiefs broke away from Orlando Pirates to become a remarkable overnight success story have no connection with the right wing. Quite the opposite — Chiefs and South African football had ties to the freedom struggle and sometimes suffered tragedy under apartheid. The club grew into a sporting and financial giant, despite the oppressive circumstances pitted against black business.

Chiefs and its story is a thing of beauty in South African sporting folklore. So it’s a comparison based on some facetiousness. Still, four rich offspring bumbling as they fail to rise to the challenge taking over a major institution — it’s too fun a likeness to resist.

Chiefs’ decline to this point has largely been pinned — in speculation and reporting — on the family-business nature of the club. There are family businesses that are successful, but you need to find the right formula. Nine seasons without a trophy, when the previous longest was one, is a huge indication Chiefs have not.

Motaung Snr’s attempts to hand more authority to his offspring, wishing to groom them to take over the club one day, has had adverse results. Too many family members, seemingly with vested and opposing interests, has made Chiefs’ Village at Naturena — an otherwise sparkling, world-class facility — alarmingly dysfunctional.

The lack of accountability — the admission once of football manager and one of the sons, Bobby Motaung, that he did not “have to submit a CV” said so much — and the splits in the leadership structure have crippled one of the diamonds of South African sport.

The pressure applied by the limitless finances of rivals Mamelodi Sundowns as they have been bankrolled by Patrice Motsepe has widened the cracks at Chiefs. The sustainability of a family-business model — where the football club is the business — has been questioned when globally, as with Sundowns, oligarchs and billionaires have made huge clubs almost limitlessly wealthy.

Chiefs remain a huge institution, thanks to the millions who back them. Their marketing is among the best of any sports team — many wonder why marketing director Jessica Motaung seems not to be the sibling being groomed to take over, rather than sporting director Kaizer Motaung Jnr.

But it’s an institution corroded by nine poor seasons, accompanied by many bad decisions. FNB Stadium seems set to not be full on Saturday. Yes, Pirates have also played their role. Three trophies in 10 years is better than Chiefs’ return, but not by much, and both clubs have played second fiddle to Sundowns for a decade.

Chiefs are in sixth place going into the derby and Pirates in fifth, as Downs continue to canter to a seventh successive league title. But Pirates at least still show ambition in their signings and attempt to compete continentally, reaching cup finals in African interclub competitions.

It is at Naturena that the situation has become chronic as Chiefs approach a decade without silverware, when their previous longest was a lone season.

Amakhosi fans usually make up about 70% of the crowd at a derby. If FNB is notably emptier than its 94,000 capacity on Saturday, it will largely be on the back of the gloom and unhappiness from the Chiefs fans since their family-run club bowed out of the Nedbank Cup to first-division Milford FC a fortnight ago, confirming another season without a trophy.

Both clubs’ inability to match Sundowns has been tarnishing the derby for years. Chiefs' alarming decline seems to be accelerating that process.