Kukame was part of the golden generation SA Olympic squad that went to the Sydney 2000, albeit as a standby player.
The Summer Games are already underway, with the men's football kicking off today as South Africa face hosts Japan in the Group A opener at 13h00 (SA time), before clashing with France and Mexico.
"For me, I don't think we have a strong squad to go and compete there. Looking into our group, we have very competitive teams, we have seasoned teams that are more experienced than us in terms of playing these tournaments," Kukame tells snl24.com/kickoff.
"Looking at our team – most of the players, I wouldn't think they are regulars in their current [club] teams. Talking from experience, I was a standby player at the 2000 Olympics because we had players that were playing regularly in their teams.
"The players that we sent there [to Tokyo] are not experienced enough to be able to compete, they are not mentally prepared to play at that stage.
"Look at France, they've been doing well through all these tournaments. They have players who are seasoned campaigners in their own league.
"It's going to be tough. Japan have also been developing faster than us."
Kukame says it is not all doom and gloom for South Africa though, as they do stand a slim chance of reaching the knockout stages this time around.
"We do have good players, despite the fact that most of our players are not regulars in their teams. It's up to the coach [David Notoane] now on how he motivates the players because even we went to Sydney and beat Brazil when nobody gave us a chance," he adds.
"I believe we can get points against Japan and Mexico. As long as we can get points from those two games, and probably get a point from France, I think our chances of progressing are there."
