Chippa United’s stay in the top flight has been nothing less than colourful, with Chippa Mpengesi acquiring a reputation as a trigger-happy owner who never hesitates to fire his coaches.
Chippa got rid of Mamelodi Sundowns’ senior coach Manqoba Mngqithi at one point after only one match in charge.
Because of his management style, he has acquired a reputation as a larger-than-life character in South African football.
It is a reputation alien to those who know him as a calm, God-loving man of the people who still even finds time for villagers long after he pulled himself by the bootstraps and found fortune elsewhere.
CHIPPA MPENGESI’S CHILDHOOD FRIEND EXPLAINS
However, Yolisa Mdingi, who grew up with him Mpengesi in Nqamakwe Village in the Eastern Cape, seems to have an answer to why he fires coaches.
Mdingi has related to FARPost, how Mpengesi, at only 18, watched as his academic dreams collapsed in a heap.
There would be no university, no law school where he could feed his brain books and pit wits against some of Mzansi’s keenest academic minds.
In largely impoverished Nqamakwe, Mpengesi’s family was amongst the poorest of the poor. In the land of the one-eyed, the Mpengesis were utterly blind.
“He was an A student; he was very brilliant; he was always top in class. Either position one or two,” recalls Mdingi, Mpengesi’s former classmate.
He further tells FARPost how rough his friend’s life was in those days. At one point, Mpengesi, one of three siblings whose only sin was an alcoholic father, had to make do with hand-me-downs for school shoes.
WHEN TEENAGE MPENGESI LEFT HOME TO LOOK FOR A JOB
“The three of them [Mpengesi siblings] were intelligent. He didn’t have the opportunities; we were in a village. He wore my shoes until I gave them away; it was tough at home.
“We spoke just before he left for Cape Town to go and look for a job. He found a job as a security guard. He didn’t have a choice; he was about 17 and had to look for a job,” Mdingi says.
Back in the village, Mpengesi was the chief marksman when they played football on Sundays. The right-footed boy, nicknamed Chippa after Orlando Pirates legend Chippa Moloi, played the traditional number 11, although he used his right foot. “He would make it a point that he turns inside and shoots.”
Mdingi says Mpengesi was rough and impatient growing up, a trait he feels he has carried into adulthood.
This season alone, he has changed coaches five times. Daine Klate was in charge in the first seven games of the season before Morgan Mammila took over for five months. Kurt Lentjies took charge for five games before handing the reins to Siya Gwambi.
After just two losses [against Marumo Gallants and Sekhukhune United], Gwambi looks set to make way for Lehlohonolo Seema.
FOOTBALL IS A RESULTS-DRIVEN GAME
“Mind you, he was rough growing up and very impatient, but it changed after church. He loved fighting a lot.”
“When he’s happy, you’ll know he’s happy. But he wants results, and when he sees things aren’t going his way, he changes,” says his old friend Mdingi.
While some picture a club owner firing coaches for fun, ala Donald Trump in The Apprentice, for Mpengesi, there is a simple method to all the madness.
“Football is a results-driven game, and if someone is not delivering, we let them go,” he told FARPost in a previous interview.
RELATED STORY: How Chippa Mpengesi got the nickname Chippa
