Surrounded by burly bodyguards, soccer legend Lucas Radebe visited his old high school in Soweto and poked fun at teachers who used to give him klaps.
Radebe on Thursday told screaming pupils at Bopasenatla High School in Diepkloof it was important that they worked hard to matriculate, but that he empathised with them for having to deal with teachers who had terrorised him as a teenager.
"Eish, Mr Sephetho. He'd always give me a hard klap," said the former Bafana Bafana and Leeds United captain - known as Rhoo - as the teacher in question looked on and laughed.
Another of his teachers, Victor Limbane, who has been at the school for 28 years, said he had nurtured the talent of the international soccer sensation as a sports coach.
"I knew him and his soccer playing from the location because we both lived in Zone 4, Diepkloof. I'm not surprised he has done so well - he always had that potential," Limbane beamed.
Radebe told the pupils that he had gone against the wishes of his mother - who wanted him to be a medical doctor - in order to take up soccer professionally.
"I had to choose between school and football, and I chose football... But two years ago the University of Leeds (in England) gave me an honorary doctorate, so now I am a doctor anyway.
"I went back to my mom and told her. I'm telling you, she smiled so hard, she looked as though she had been brushing her teeth with Aquafresh since she was born," said Radebe, who is a brand ambassador for the toothpaste company.
He handed out hundreds of toothbrushes and tubes of Aquafresh to pupils, and the company donated R15 000 to help with the building of a soccer pitch at the school.
Radebe acknowledged that it was weird coming back to his old stomping ground surrounded by bodyguards.
"They scare me a little bit too," he said.
Aquafresh spokesperson Susan Brunner said the company had hired the heavies because "you never know what can happen".
Radebe said the visit had nevertheless left him with goosebumps.
"It's good to see that the school is still running so well and I am very impressed with their pass rate," he said.
Grade 11 pupil Sibongile Ntuli could barely manage to contain her excitement at having her hero around in the flesh.
"I am so very, very happy that he came. He makes you feel like you can be as great as he is," 21-year-old Ntuli said.