You’ve got to believe Kamohelo Mokotjo when he says he’s always gambled on himself.
There are not many SA football players who will leave the comfort of their homes with the prospect of a professional career and start everything in Europe instead.
That’s what an 11-year-old Mokotjo, born in Odendaalsrus (Lejweleputswa) in Free State, did in 2009 when he left SuperSport United’s junior ranks to join Feyenoord in the Dutch league.
Mokotjo’s career in Europe was not bad at all, and its main highlights were with FC Twente and PEC Zwolle in the Eredevisie (the Dutch top-flight league).
Mokotjo won two cup competitions with Zwolle, but it was the three years at Twente between 2014 and 2017 that had everyone zooming in on him as he constantly played and helped his team finish in the top half of the table — the highlight being his last season when Twente finished seventh.
The impression he made at Twente could have seen Mokotjo return to them in 2023, after leaving US Major Soccer League side FC Cincinnati last year.
When the move back to Twente didn’t materialise, Mokotjo took the biggest gamble on his life when he headed back to his home country to sign a deal with Nedbank Cup finalists Sekhukhune United.
Mokotjo’s move to Sekhukhune — a Limpopo club considered minnows in the PSL after gaining promotion to the elite league in 2021, having only been formed in 2019 — came out of the blue as everyone expected the Bafana Bafana midfielder to be signed by Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs.
“I’ve been overseas for 14 years since 2009 and the decision to come back home was influenced by injuries and people [in clubs in Europe] not thinking I still have it,” Mokotjo explained to TimesLIVE Premium.
“Obviously I was about to sign at Twente [for a second stint] and then the injury occurred. Some people will gamble on you and some won’t, but I’ve always gambled on myself. I’m not back home to relax. I’m here to prove a point to myself that I’m still the old Kamo [Kamohelo]. Yeah ... that’s me against me.”
I won things yes, I was playing good football [in Europe], but that’s not the standard for me. The standard for me is staying fit, staying healthy, being able to reproduce what I do over and over again.
— Kamohelo Mokotjo
Mokotjo explained that the move to Chiefs was in the pipeline but he wasn’t privy to what gave Amakhosi cold feet on his signature, because for him it was not about money.
“They [Chiefs] were part of the teams that were looking at me,” Mokotjo confirms. “Things didn’t work out. I can’t specify what exactly happened, but talks weren’t fruitful and I just wanted to play football. I didn’t come back [home] for monetary reasons. All I wanted to do is come back and prove that I’m the same player that I was and maybe even better.”
Indeed, Mokotjo is slowly but surely proving that point. He helped Sekhukhune book a spot in the Nedbank Cup final when they beat Stellenbosch FC on penalties on Sunday. Sekhukhune will face Orlando Pirates on May 27 in what will be club’s first final where they’ll earn R7m if they win and a spot in the Caf Confederation Cup.
The Confederation Cup place may even be confirmed for Sekhukhune before they meet Pirates in the final. That will happen if Pirates manage to finish second on the DStv Premiership table ahead of SuperSport.
Sekhukhune will get a taste of what they should expect from Pirates in the final when they meet in a league match at Orlando Stadium on Saturday (May 13).
Many would have thought Mokotjo had his peak at Twente and English club Brentford (2017-2020), but the 32-year-old combative midfielder says as far as he’s concerned that has not happened yet.
“I won things yes, I was playing good football [in Europe], but that’s not the standard for me. The standard for me is staying fit, staying healthy, being able to reproduce what I do over and over again.
“Obviously I have been disrupted by injuries, which is something I can’t control. It can happen to any player, but in life you have to fight to be where you want to be. I’m a fighter and my career has been far from smooth. I thank God that I’m in this club [Sekhukhune] and that I’m able to be doing what I love doing.”
Injuries and non-renewal of his contract at Brentford robbed Mokotjo of an opportunity to play in the Premier League in England, as the London club were promoted in 2020, the year he left them.
“My contract was coming to an end and I had a few injuries there [Brentford] too and that’s why I didn’t play in the play-off final [for promotion] at Wembley,” he says. “I was injured and the club had to make a choice. It’s a business side and there’s a performance side and I wasn’t fit at that time. I had to make a choice, the club had to make a choice. But they’re [Brentford] still family to me.”
When Bafana qualified for the quarterfinals of the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in 2019, Mokotjo was buzzing and was one of the first players in Stuart Baxter’s line-up. But when Baxter left and the team failed to qualify for Afcon 2021 under Molefi Ntseki, Mokotjo’s call-ups to Bafana stopped, and he is yet to feature in Hugo Broos’s team.
But being back at home may see Mokotjo become one of the late inclusions in Broos’s squad for Afcon in Ivory Coast next year. But Mokotjo insists he didn’t come back home because he wanted to boost his chances of a return to Bafana. He doesn’t want reputation to open doors for him with Bafana but wants to earn another call-up through what he can do for Sekhukhune.
“I’m not even thinking as far as Bafana Bafana. I just don’t close any chapters on myself. I always gamble on myself. I’ll take the route that no-one else will take and I’m completely fine with that. I’m a simply guy, I know where I come from [Lejweleputswa]. I know how I was raised and I don’t believe in reputation. I believe in working hard and earning to be where you are. That’s what I believe in.”
Mokotjo’s biggest goal is to have an impact on his teammates at Sekhukhune, both on and off the field. He’s worried about the structures that most PSL clubs are battling with.
Sekhukhune, for instance, don’t have a training ground of their own but share Johannesburg Stadium training fields with the Lions (rugby team) and play their home matches in Polokwane, Limpopo.
Players’ welfare, especially after retirement, is a matter closest to Mokotjo’s heart. He is sad that some former players are struggling to put food on the table after football. Having played in Europe, Mokotjo knows that clubs do not only have to pay players’ salaries but also give them access to pension funds and medical aids, something not guaranteed in most PSL clubs.
“I just think we need more resources,” Mokotjo says of the standard of the PSL and its players. “When it comes to the talent, we have it in abundance. We just need more resources and a system that protects the players during and after football. It’s very important. But other than that, football is football. The ball is round and players have to make something.
“As much as I instil my experience to the boys, I also learn a lot from them. So we learn a lot from each other. They understand the game here better than me. So I have to learn and I have to adjust. I think the thing I say most to them is ‘anything is possible’.
“Even for those players who have stopped or have been written off, anything is possible. If you want it, you work hard and when you get the opportunity you make use of it. You’ll get your spot wherever you are.”
You’ve go to believe what Mokotjo is saying because there are not a lot of SA football players, current and in the past, who’ve backed and gambled on themselves more than he has.
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