Former Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper William Shongwe says loaning out Fiacre Ntwari to Kruger United was an uninformed decision as the Soweto giants appear to be in a goalkeeping crisis.
Ntwari will spend the 2026/27 season at the Mpumalanga-based Betway Premiership debutants, while another goalkeeper, Bontle Molefe, was loaned to Motsepe Foundation Championship side Hope FC. This leaves Chiefs with Brandon Petersen as the first-choice shot-stopper, with Renaldo Leaner, Bruce Bvuma and Takalani Mazhamba understudying him.
Ntwari arrived in South Africa in July 2023 from AS Kigali, signing for TS Galaxy where he spent just a season before joining Chiefs. But after a promising start to life at Naturena, he fell off the pecking order, allowing Petersen to take over and be appointed Amakhosi captain last season.
However, in the new term, Petersen has made some costly mistakes in the 1-0 MTN8 quarter-final defeat by Golden Arrows FC, the 2-2 Betway Premiership draw with Richards Bay FC, as well as Saturday’s 1-1 league draw with Polokwane City FC.
‘NOT A WELL-THOUGHT DECISION’: PETERSEN-SHONGWE ON CHIEFS’ NTWARI DECISION
Despite the blunders, coach Fernando da Cruz has stuck with his captain. The decision comes amid calls from some quarters for the Frenchman to give chances to other goalkeepers. Fears are mounting that Petersen’s blunders could eat into his confidence.
“For Molefe in particular, he is a young goalkeeper. You don’t grow while sitting on the bench, you need game time. At this age, this is a very critical time for him as a young goalkeeper to have that game time,” Shongwe told FARPost.
“For me, that is very important because for him to be stuck there, it’s not the best situation. But for that other goalkeeper [Ntwari], I think maybe he should have been around this season.
“He has some experience, and he was going to be a good option for the coaches. Just his presence was going to provide some competition for Petersen,” Shongwe went on, as Ntwari has featured in just two of Kruger United’s six league games so far in this campaign.
“Naturally, in such a situation, we will be talking about competition in the Chiefs goalkeeping department. I don’t know the idea behind it and what made the coaches make the decision to loan out the Rwandan goalkeeper, but I think it was not a well-thought-out decision, as we can see it.”
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