Regarded as bad boys of South African football and blessed with immense talent, these stars all came from the same township and all played for Kaizer Chiefs.
Despite the dark clouds that hovered over their soccer careers, former Amakhosi midfielder Junior Khanye believes Skapie Malatsi, Jabu Mahlangu and Michael Nkambule did enough to showcase the abundance of talent from their township.
READ: Khanye: Please bring back Zongo
"Daveyton is the Brazil of South Africa in terms of football. There are players that were even better than us that unfortunately never made it to professional football," Khanye tells snl24.com/kickoff in an exclusive interview.
'Faka imali uzobona' takes us down memory lane of some of the talent to emerge from Daveyton.
Thabiso 'Skapie' Malatsi
"He is a brother and a friend. He is one of the guys that welcomed me at Kaizer Chiefs because he was already playing for the under-19s and the reserve team. You will never mention Jabu Mahlangu and Scara Ngobesi without mentioning Skapie.
"Skilful and talented, he could also score goals. Off the field Skapie is another person who was so generous. He would give out even his clothes. He liked to share his money and happiness around people.
"Skapie also did not have a good background in terms of his family and that also affected him as a human being. I understand that he is into music now but Skapie doesn't belong there, he belongs to football. Even if serving the game in a different capacity rather than playing it."
Michael Nkambule
"He stays in my neighbourhood, five minutes' walk from my house. He captained my team North Star during our young age and used to play barefooted. He is another person that grew up without parents. He lost his parents whilst still young.
"The guy did not smoke or drink but unfortunately because he comes from Daveyton our past was attached to him. He was branded troublesome because he comes from Daveyton. He went to play for Black Leopards but things did not go well after the Zimbabwean coach Sunday Chidzambwa left.
"He came back home and at one stage trained at the Jazzy Queen Academy. I speak to him more often. Michael did not leave football because he wanted but was heartbroken [due to football politics].
"He went to play in France at a young age. He came back to South Africa and went to play for Kaizer Chiefs where he was hoping to make his name with one of the biggest teams in South Africa."
Jabu Mahlangu
"Inja yami leyo. With due respect to Doctor Khumalo who was a good player during his days at Kaizer Chiefs, but Jabu was something else. For me he is one of the best players to wear the Kaizer Chiefs jersey in the club's history.
"He scored in his first game at Kaizer Chiefs. He scored in his first game for Bafana. He scored in his first game in Europe. He played in the World Cup. Off the field Jabu was also one of the nicest guys and he still is. He likes jokes.
"Unfortunately when I came to Chiefs they wanted to compare me to Jabu Mahlangu. Jabu was Jabu. Junior Khanye was Junior Khanye. He had his own problems off the field. He made his mistakes. Jabu has grown up to be such a wonderful family man and very responsible. He loves his family.
Watch below as Junior Khanye motivated kids recently at a school in Eswatini
Honourable mentions
There were a few other talented players from Daveyton who did not make it big in football.
Touch Mabasa: "He played for Amazulu and was a regular under Julio Leal. Another most-skilful player. Mzansi is unlucky not to have witnessed such talent reaching its full potential."
Philip Mbonani: "No one has ever heard of him. He played for the under-15, 17 and 19 at Chiefs. He was one of the best playmakers but unfortunately a knee injury deprived him of the opportunity to make it in football. I still rate him highly, I have seen him playing here at ekasi. I am planning to speak to my chairman with the club in the ABC Motsepe League in Limpopo [Ngwaabe City Motors] to see if he could come and play for us."
Doctor Mampuru: "He was a most-hardworking player. He was given a chance to play at Mamelodi Sundowns after Johan Neeskens left. He went to play for Mpumalanga Black Aces. He is one of the most unfortunate players whose career didn't reach its full potential. I believe he can still play. I wish to see him playing in the PSL again."
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