The man who captained Kaizer Chiefs on the night of the Ellis Park disaster still gets frightened whenever memories of that dark night come flooding.
Today – April 11 – marks 23 years since that Wednesday evening when Chiefs’ encounter against Orlando Pirates at the venue in Doornfontein venue turned into carnage.
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43 lives were lost in the tragedy that overrode the Soweto Derby that would have a huge say in determining where the league winners.
Pirates finished that 2000/01 season as champions on 61 points, Chiefs on 60, and Mamelodi Sundowns third on 59.
"I will never ever forget the Ellis Park tragedy," Mabedi tells KickOff.com as he recalls that Wednesday night.
The Malawian was the Chiefs captain as the game started and went on until 40 minutes when the chaos on the stands and outside left terrifying sights of dead bodies on the floor.
"It was a scary experience to have so many people die for wanting to come and watch a football match that I was involved in as a player.
"Our job as players was to entertain people and not have them killed for coming to watch us.
"I shared a room with Tony Ilodigwe that day and it was amazing to see the crowd buzzing as we went in.
"After having been focused on the game, it wasn’t a good sight to then see dead bodies on the pitch that we had been playing on in our mission to entertain them.
"It still scares me up to now to think about what happened on that night.
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"It was disturbing, and you could touch the sadness with your hands in the dressing room.
"I never wish to see or hear about such ever in my life," reflects Mabedi.
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