Another cautionary tale of a riches-to-rags great

You've read a column like this before, so excuse me if it sounds familiar.

While on holiday in the breathtaking mountains of Ukhahlamba in the kingdom of KwaZulu, I heard a tale that brought a tear to my eye.

It involved a tavern frequently visited by a certain footballer.

This footballer was famous for his fantastic goals.

He was popular with his fans.

He lived the life.

He was the man.

The world was his oyster.

Fame was his game. Phumlani Mkhize is his name.

He is still popular with the patrons at the tavern, albeit for unpalatable reasons.

"Ngicela uthurandi," is his line as he greets people by asking for R2 to play a game of pool.

He was one of the three musketeers who were trailblazers as they tore defences to pieces and terrorised goalies in our land.

But the former African Wanderers striker is now a tavern wanderer while the others of the trio, Sibusiso Zuma and Siyabonga Nomvethe, are still gracing our grounds with their God-given skills.

In his prime, when he had many R2s, Mkhize did the right thing by improving the life of his family. He bought a beautiful house in a larney area. As the family moved to the new address, the for-sale sign went up on the old township house. Great. This is upward mobility. In one word, it's called progress. Well done, Khabazela kaMavovo.

Then things took a turn for the worse for the man who once mysteriously shot himself in the thigh. Guns are not toys, I told him when he called me to inform me of his trigger-happy finger.

The man who responds to the BMX moniker is not doing so well as the R2 story suggests.

I am not standing in judgment. Neither is this an exercise in condemnation, because it is a fact that life can throw a cruel curve-ball.

Having said that, I also know that life gives us examples to learn from, to make us wiser by learning from other peoples' experiences. That yet another former player who hit the heights in his prime is down and out is not a lack of luck.

It could be a function of being slack with decision-making off the field - ironically, something our players struggle with on the field.

I understand that not every soccer player will form a club and grow it into a phenomenal institution like Kaizer Motaung has done with his Kaizer Chiefs.

Not many soccer players hold a degree like Tefu Mashamaite, who has a BA in international relations and will have something meaningful to fall back on when the fame is gone.

But you don't need a degree to know you have to save money.

You don't need an education to understand you will not be a soccer star forever.

People are free to do with their lives as they please. It is their life, after all.

However, moving from riches to rags is something we should avoid at all costs - especially us black people, who know the smell, look and feel of poverty.

I hope Mkhize finds it in him to pick himself up, dust himself off and get his life together.

It would have torn my heart to go to that tavern, to see him in that state, to have him greet me by asking for R2.

The journalist in me wanted to go.

But I was on holiday with some serious personal demons of my own to deal with.

You've read a column like this before. I wish I could say you will never read one like this again. @BBKUnplugged99