Johannesburg - The daughters of late Bafana Bafana football star Philemon ‘Chippa’ Masinga have for the last seven months been pleading, unsuccessfully with Mamelodi Sundowns - one of the teams that their father played for - to make good on its pledge to support them financially after they were left penniless following his death.
Masinga who was capped 58 times playing for Bafana Bafana, died in January this year following a long battle with cancer. He had been divorced from the mother of his two daughters, Tinyiko, 23, and Tatyana, 18.
At a memorial service for Masinga who was also an English Premier League star with Leeds United in his prime, the spokesperson for Mamelodi Sundowns, Alex Shakoane, in full view of the mourners - pledged that the club would take care of the financial needs of his children.
According to a family spokesperson who has intervened because of the dire circumstances, the children find themselves in telephone calls and a string of ignored and unanswered emails to Shakoane, he said.
Alex Shakoane of Mamelodi Sundowns receives a handsome check from the ABSA Premiership after the club were Q2 winners in February this year. Picture: PSL Twitter
The family spokesperson who preferred anonymity but whose name is in the email correspondence that The Sunday Independent has seen, said Masinga never took care of his children after he divorced their mother and that the family was destitute even before his death.
The spokesperson said the promised pledge was expected to bring much needed relief for the family.
After Shakoane made the pledge, the children followed up but he would promise to call them back because “he is on his way to the airport” but never did.
“I also intervened and I tried to get a hold of Alex myself and as usual, he’d say he was on his way to the airport, and would always give me the run-around,” said the spokesperson.
The man decided to call Sundowns offices and asked to speak to Shakoane.
“I was then transferred (to him). The first question he asked me, was ‘what is your connection with these kids?’
“I am just a concerned family friend who is merely helping them. I am intervening because you are not responding to them. My desire is simply to get fairness,” was my response to Shakoane.
“I made it clear to him that he doesn’t have to speak to me but could he please go back to the children and fulfill his promise because they need financial help with their schooling needs. We need to put a stop to promises that are made and not followed through because another legend will pass away, there’ll be another commitment and it will fizzle out. These children don’t deserve this.”
The spokesperson said unlike Sundowns, the South African Football Association (SAFA) also made a similar commitment to assist the family but they have made good on their promise.
“President of SAFA Danny Jordaan actually requested that the young lady and the mother get in touch with him which they did and he honoured his promise,” he said.
He said Tinyiko had been assisted by SAFA with her tuition fees. While SAFA has made it clear that they do not provide bursaries for high school, they have committed that as soon as Tatyana reaches university, she must submit the necessary documentation for her to be assisted to be able to further her studies.
Philemon 'Chippa' Masinga's son Sifiso and daughter Tinyiko at the memorial service of the late footballer. Picture: ANA.
The Sunday Independent has seen email correspondence from April to various officials within Sundowns wherein promises would be made to alert Shakoane to honour his promise, but to no avail. Even threats to escalate the matter to Sundowns boss Patrice Motsepe didn’t seem to trigger any movement from Shakoane.
However, when approached for comment Shakoane insisted that the club’s commitment to the family has been honoured.
“We have made a commitment to the family which is between us and them and we have stuck to it,” he said.
Despite Shakoane's stance, the family insisted that they still haven’t heard a word from Shakoane or Sundowns three weeks after we started to make enquiries.
