Former soccer stars like Reneilwe ‘Yeye’ Letsholonyane and current players, will soon be trained about financial literacy by the Culture, Arts, Tourism Hospitality and Sport Sector Education and Training (Cathsseta), as many struggle after hanging up their boots.
The Cathsseta said it had noted with concern the spike of many former football stars who are financially struggling after their careers ended.
Marks Thibela, the Chief Executive Officer of the organisation, said that during a sit-down interview with IOL News, at the conference, in Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg on September 4.
The conference was aimed at discussing challenges in the labour market and the absorption of skills into the economy.
Thibela said they have already started discussions with the former Fifa referee and general manager of Premier Soccer League (PSL) Andile ‘Ace’ Ngcobo about introducing the financial literacy programme.
“We have already begun talks with Ngcobo last year about this programme and we had discussions on what can be done to help these struggling soccer players, and even the current ones.”
“Because we as Cathsseta and PSL believe that we can really come up with an intervention, one of them which is financial literacy to those who are still playing and retired players,” Thibela said.
He stressed that the programme is important, especially to those who are still gracing the stadiums to play soccer.
Thibela expressed a concern that many soccer players are enduring financial difficulties after hanging up their boots, citing that players in various fields such as rugby, do not encounter such problems.
“We need to ask the question why in the football fraternity these stories are prevalent and of these guys who played soccer overseas and returned back home without money.”
He said the discussions with the PSL are still in progress and they plan to return back to the table and engage in starting the programme.
“We really need to start the programme of getting these players on how to live a proper lifestyle, and learn, because to them it looks like when they have money, driving expensive cars that’s all and they don’t think about tomorrow,” Thibela told IOL News.
Recently, former Kaizer Chiefs and Bafana Bafana midfielder, Reneilwe Letsholonyane, popularly known as “Yeye”, made headlines after reports indicating that he might have to sell his R1 million house in Fourways, Joburg.
Letsholonyane, is reportedly having an outstanding debt of more than R450,000, while his outstanding municipal levies amount to more than R700,000.
This is according to the reports filed to the Johannesburg High Court by the Standard Bank which applied for an execution order to recoup the debt.
The bank further said in its agreement with the former soccer star, he was supposed to pay R72,000 which he owed for seven months, but he failed to do so.
In 2019, another former Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates player Benedict ‘Tso’ Vilakazi, who used to be a household name in the football industry, shocked the country when he opened up about how he spent his money recklessly.
Vilakazi, disclosed on Mzansi Magic’s show called I Blew It, that he was pocketing about R18,000 while still at Orlando Pirates, and R39,000 at Bafana Bafana, which included an allowance.
He said in Denmark, the signing fee was about R350,000, R2 million for the signing fee at Sundowns and R1.2 million salary.
“I bought a house in Naturena, about R250, 000 and the Floria house I bought when I divorced my ex-wife, I think it was about R500,000,” he said in the show.
“When I was driving back from the Sundowns training, the traffic jam was affecting me, and I then resorted to buying a house in Kyalami Glen, for about R2 million.”
“I remember I bought couches for about R50,000, three big television plasma screens in the main bedroom, lounge and another one downstairs. I also bought curtains for R160,000,” Vilakazi said.
IOL Sports