Former Kaizer Chiefs star Josta Dladla has called for a moment of truth from the Amakhosi faithful, urging supporters to confront the harsh reality of the club’s dwindling representation in the Bafana Bafana squad.
Dladla hasn’t hidden his love for the club he represented between 2009 and 2015. Having lifted two league titles and a Telkom Knockout trophy with Chiefs after joining from Mamelodi Sundowns, Dladla knows what a good Amakhosi team looks like.
However, the Soweto-born legend says fans need to be honest about where the team and its players currently stand.
Speaking on the eve of AFCON 2025, Dladla admitted that Chiefs are showing signs of improvement this term, but he doesn’t see any current players stepping into the Bafana Bafana team.
Dladla’s blunt assessment comes despite the stellar form of Amakhosi captain Brandon Petersen, who dominated the first half of the season with 11 clean sheets in 18 matches—including a league-high nine shutouts in just 13 games.
Petersen’s consistency was so clinical it sparked a nationwide debate over his exclusion from the final AFCON squad, especially after he was initially named in Hugo Broos’ preliminary squad. However, the goalkeeper suffered the same fate as teammates Thabiso Monyane and Bradley Cross, both of whom were cut from the provisional list. Even the highly-rated Mduduzi Shabalala failed to make the trip to Morocco, relegated instead to the tournament’s standby list.
JOSTA DLADLA CALLS FOR HONESTY ABOUT KAIZER CHIEFS
Dladla highlighted that even call-ups like Shabalala are more about gaining experience than making an immediate impact for Hugo Broos.
“Let’s be honest, I love Kaizer Chiefs,” Dladla said on the Lemiii LoCo on Sports show. “I love the players too. But as it is, Chiefs have not been doing that well. “Yes, they are doing better this season, but I don’t see any Chiefs player stepping into the national team and starting – playing.
“We have to start putting the emotions aside and be honest with ourselves. There is no Chiefs player now that deserves to be in the national team. I know they called up Shabalala as a standby player… if somebody gets injured, he will be called.
“But if he was part of the squad, he was not even going to play. I think it is just for experience. So for the next AFCON, he will be familiar with the event and its level. Most of the boys are still young, they still have time. Also Chiefs are still in the rebuilding phase right now. We have to wait for Chiefs. We can see they are getting better.
“Rebuilding a team takes time. I think they are in the right space right now because there are a lot of young ones. If these boys really want to learn and grow, it is up to them,” Dladla added.
By Siseko Gwegwe
RELATED STORY: ‘It’s like I killed someone’: Broos on Chiefs players’ exclusion