In this edition of My Muti Story, we hear from former Kaizer Chiefs player and head coach Sergio Dos Santos.
Who and where?
"What would sometimes happen at Kaizer Chiefs is there would be a chicken. Then the muti man would put the chicken down, do some stuff with his hands and so on, and the chicken would just stand there.
"It would freeze like it was stiff like it was hypnotised. And the muti man would take like a very small knife and slice its throat.
"And the chicken would just stand there while the blood was coming out of its neck. And the muti man would collect the blood in a special little container. He would mix stuff with it and put it into a bath. We had to bathe in that stuff, and you were not allowed to dry yourself.
"But the most important thing that happened with that muti man was we came to play with Hellenic in the Mainstay Cup.
"And while on that bus he took a squash and put some stuff inside it, and he went up to Peter Bala'c who was our goalkeeper, he did some stuff with him there and so on.
"When we were close to the field the muti man told the driver to stop the bus on the side of the road. He then told Peter to come to the door, gave him the squash, and he told him to throw it onto the ground. Peter threw it onto the ground and the whole thing broke up. It broke into small pieces."
Why were you doing it?
"He told Peter 'You are now breaking the muti of Hellenic, they are not going to score through you.' And he was right [laughs].
"Look, it was tradition. It was a traditional thing, and I guess they are still doing it. It's a belief from many, many years ago that the muti man is there to protect you and to make sure you get the right result.
"It's a mental thing. If the muti man was that good, then why don't you win all your matches?"
Who was the muti man?
"I remember him very, very well but I can't remember his name. I remember in 1983 Durban City won the league and won a trophy, so in 1984 that muti man came to Chiefs. But we had a very bad period with him."
What did you have to do?
"The players did nothing, it was only Peter."
What stood out?
"I think what stood out it was the fact that...It was the way of teaching the players to be together as one and believe in one thing. Whether you believed in it or not it was not important. It was a lot of psychology."
What was the result?
"When Peter broke that squash it was a very difficult match, but we won 1-0. They didn't score against Peter. So Peter didn't suffer at all."