When Kaizer Chiefs stumbled on Thomas Sweswe…and passed on young Khama Billiat
If Bobby Motaung and Ace Khuse had not gone to watch Knowledge Musona and Khama Billiat play in a curtain raiser in Harare in 2009, Kaizer Chiefs would never have signed Thomas Sweswe.
And if one General, who marshalled the Amakhosi midfield for years, Tinashe Nengomasha, had not made his way into the Dynamos dressing room that fateful afternoon at Rufaro Stadium, the Zimbabwean side’s players would not have known they were being watched by South African football royalty.
Add to that, if little Billiat weighed a few more kilos, could he have also been snapped up that afternoon, just in time for the 2009/10 PSL season?
Imagine the mayhem the former Warriors’ terrible twins – Musona and Billiat – would have caused if they had both arrived in Naturena that winter.
COUNTING HIS BLESSINGS
If… Football, like life, is a series of what-ifs. Sometimes luck goes certain players’ way, and fate smiles upon them, but sometimes the opposite happens.
That afternoon in the Sunshine City, with the sweat barely dry on his body after toiling to impress Motaung and Khuse, Billiat perhaps wondered why the footballing gods had turned their backs on him. Sweswe, on the other hand, was counting his blessings. He still does. A miracle had happened in those 90 minutes at Rufaro, and he was about to swap Dynamos’ blue and white for Chiefs’ gold and black.
“Musona was playing for an academy [Aces Youth Academy] in the first division, and I was at Dynamos at the time. I remember seeing ‘Bobsteak’ and Ace at the hotel where we were camping. They were with Nengomasha, whom I knew from school. He told me they had come to see Knowledge, but would watch the Dynamos game,” says the man popularly known as ‘Rambo’.
The former Zimbabwe youth internationals – Musona and Billiat – were playing in the unfashionable first division and were curtain-raising for the big boys.
Harare had been meant to be a pit-stop for Motaung and Khuse, who were on their way to watch Gilbert Banda, a centre-back plying his trade for Highlanders, Dynamos’ fierce Bulawayo-based rivals.
But Nengomasha, who spent a decade breaking up opposition attacks for Chiefs, convinced them there was a sensational teenager that had never even tasted action in the Zimbabwean topflight. Mamelodi Sundowns had missed out on this gem, and Nengomasha stressed it was important to capture the 19-year-old before the Chloorkop giants woke up from their slumber.
THOMAS SWESWE PARADED HIS STRENGTH
“I had kept an eye on Knowledge Musona, they wanted to fly out to Bulawayo to watch a different player, but I told them there was a gem of a player who had recently been to Sundowns for trials,” Nengomasha says.
He remembers vividly how the colossal Sweswe paraded his strength, leadership and aerial ability that afternoon.
“Thomas played really well. His experience from playing in the CAF Champions League and for the national team showed,” adds the Godfather.
The man who missed out on the opportunity, Banda, confirms he followed the developments with keen interest.
“I know Kaizer Chiefs were interested. Bobby Motaung had called me and told me they would come and check me out in Bulawayo. But they ended up not coming. I later learnt that Thomas Sweswe ended up going. I missed out on a golden opportunity,” Banda, who is based in Johannesburg, says.
Sweswe recollects that life-changing encounter as though it happened yesterday. They were playing the then-defending champions, Monomotapa.
“I played my normal game. I didn’t try too hard, or else I’d have messed up,” he says.
THE VULTURES WERE CONSTANTLY SETTLING
Nengomasha attributes his steadiness on the day to the experience he had acquired playing the CAF Champions League and in the national team.
Luckily, Sweswe had a clause in his contract with Dynamos which stipulated the club would not stand in his way if any foreign suitors came knocking for his services.
“So, there wasn’t much to negotiate. That’s why I could leave the following day,” he says.
Even though Chiefs had their man, they remained tight-lipped on the transfer for a while. The vultures were constantly circling, and the Phefeni Glamour Boys felt their new prized possession might be snatched from their grasp. At this point, Billiat was now a footnote in Chiefs’ transfer business for that pre-season.
Over a decade later, Sweswe is a retired stalwart, and Billiat is seemingly at the tail end of his Chiefs career. But back then, the roles were reversed, as Khuse and Motaung went for the sturdy defender instead of the pint-sized attacker.
TAKING KNOWLEDGE MUSONA UNDER HIS WING
Thrust into the limelight at Chiefs, Sweswe did not lose sight of whom he was, bringing his family to Johannesburg while taking a young Musona under his wing.
“Thomas is a family man. He knew what he wanted to achieve. He came with his family, so his focus was on the game and nothing else. But what touched me the most was how his wife would cook for Knowledge every day. They were staying in the same complex,” Nengomasha says.
Chiefs’ scouts had snapped up Sweswe not only for his control in the heart of defence but also showcasing physical capabilities. It was this strength that made him a subject of humour in the Chiefs dressing room.
“He finished all the socks at Chiefs because of his big calves. Our socks were rotated, so after Thomas had worn several of them, they were not fitting. We then discovered that whenever Thomas wears the socks, they become too big for anyone else because of his big calves. They ended up allocating him his own socks,” Nengomasha laughs as he relates that story.
Former Bafana Bafana talisman Siphiwe Tshabalala, his teammate at Chiefs, also recalls Sweswe’s ability to damage socks.
A decade after he left Naturena for Bidvest Wits, Sweswe admits that he has not fared poorly for a man who ended up at South Africa’s most successful club almost by accident.
HOW KAIZER CHIFS CHANGES SWESWE’S LIFE
As he sits at the top of the table at the Footballers Union of Zimbabwe [FUZ], he says he must make sure that the likes of Billiat, make hay while the sun shines. Football is, after all, a relatively short career.
“Kaizer Chiefs changed my life. I live in my own house, and I drive my own cars because of that opportunity. I want a boy in Mufakose to know that ‘time and chance happen to all of us’. When opportunity presents itself, grab it with both hands,” Sweswe says.
The FUZ secretary-general has become passionate about safeguarding the welfare of soccer stars.
“I don’t want to see Khama Billiat repeat the same mistakes we made.”
While for Billiat, the dream of a career at Chiefs ended before it had begun, Sweswe felt like he was sleepwalking into a football fairy tale.
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