In this edition of My Muti Story, KickOff reveals the obsession that two of the teams he played for had with pre-match rituals, recalling how Orlando Pirates starting winning after one inyanga was shown the door.
Mbuyane reveals how the club had to replace a muti man who could only win a pre-season tournament and dismally failed when it came to real cup competitions.
Who and where?
"We never used muti as such, it's just the teams we played for that were obsessed with such practices, especially Free State Stars and Orlando Pirates.
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"But even there it was not so hectic because mostly they would work on the pitch and just bathe us.
"At Pirates, that's where Bra Boy would bathe us the most, but to our surprise, we would only win the [Telkom] Charity Cup and nothing more. Okunye besingakudobhi [Anything else, we wouldn't get].
"We only started winning things after the club replaced Bra Boy with a ZCC pastor. That's when we started playing."
Why were you doing it?
"According to Bra Boy, the muti was supposed to help us singasindelwa egroundini [to feel lighter and more active on the pitch], but it seems bekasenza sisindelwe worse because we were not winning anything.
"We never won any trophy besides the Telkom Charity Cup. That's the only thing we were winning."
Who was the muti man?
"Bra Boy I can't tell what was his role at the club, but what I know is he was the one who was bringing us the muti.
"Besigeza [We were bathing] straight under that man, but still nothing came together... bekungahlangani niks. His muti didn't work. It only worked in the Charity Cup."
What did you have to do?
"He would bathe us, but once we got to our hotel rooms we would take a shower and wash off his itching muti. Besilunywa mahala nje."
Did everyone take part?
"Yeah, Moeneeb Josephs and Robyn Johannes once tried to refuse, and Irvin Khoza came straight to the hotel where the team was camping and told them straight that everybody who's got a contract with Orlando Pirates will do whatever the whole team was doing. Even Benni McCarthy would go in.
"At Free State Stars, our coach Kinnah Phiri brought his own muti man from Malawi. He said he trusted his own muti man. He was doing a good job, to be honest, that man. The only problem was the rain; his muti didn't work well when it was raining. But we were untouchable when it was scorching-hot. I think we finished in fifth or fourth place that season. We had a team."
What was the result?
"Muti doesn't work. Awusebenzi. Sibulawa kugeza nje [It doesn't work. The bathing is what's killing us]."