Snl24 | ‘Bra Stan’s muti would lock the opponents’

Former Moroka Swallows star Steve Sekano

In this edition of My Muti Story, Moroka Swallows legend Steve Sekano admits that that the pre-match rituals that local clubs were notorious for produced the desired results in most cases.

Sekano shares his muti experiences from his playing days with KickOff.

Who and where?

“All I can say is, in the past, muti did work in football. For something to work, you have to believe in it.

“Those days, we relied on muti a lot. Sometimes, we would not use the gate to enter a stadium, we would jump a fence. We knew very well that once you stepped on the muti by mistake, you’ve already lost that particular match.

“If we had a game against Vaal Professionals, we knew exactly where they put their muti. We would avoid that particular area and use a different entrance.

“When we played [Orlando] Pirates, we wouldn’t dare use the dressing rooms. Swallows would first send a spy, naso siyothela awethu amakhathakhatha [so he could plant our own muti] before we would go in.

“I remember the day we played Pirates at George Goch. That’s the day that made me realise multi does work in football. I scored the only goal that particular day, and Pirates were all over us. The late Screamer Tshabalala was our coach. Bra Stan’s muti would lock the opponents.

“I don’t know how many goals Pirates missed that day at George Goch. But in the 88th minute, I just toe-poked the ball and it went in. We beat them 1-0.

“Bra Stan had his own muti, which was always amongst the soccer boots and the jerseys and everything.”

Why were you doing it?

“You know the saying: When you are in Rome, you do as the Romans do. You never ask a lot of questions.

“I remember the club’s offices were in Bree Street. Inside the late former Swallows chairman David Chabeli’s office, there was a small muti room that looked like sort of a steam room. Inside that room, there was always something burning. That room was always full of smoke.”

Who was the muti man?

“They would bring a different muti man now and then. So we didn’t have a muti man as such; there was this young boy we used to call Mdu; he was some sort of errand boy for Swallows; and even opposition teams knew him. He would go inside the pitch put the muti there and leave.”

Did everyone take part?

“The white players we had at Swallows those days – the likes of Graham Louw, Andrew Ramsden and Gregor Wille – would sometimes refuse to take part, especially when we had to be cut with a razor blade or had to drink some stuff.”

What stood out?

“Everything has its own time. Because today I’m a church person, I will tell you that muti doesn’t work, God is the answer to everything. God is the main person. Just pray and God will provide.”