When Comrades Marathon winner Tete Dijana welcomed the Sunday World crew to his coach Johan’s swanky house in the rolling hills of Cashan, Rustenburg, where he is recovering together with his teammates, he walked without any discomfort or pain. He didn’t shuffle along; in fact, he looked like he could kill another marathon with ease.
This is all the while other runners’ bodies are bruised, knees battered, ankles pounded and hobbling like penguins. Others have just been discharged from hospitals.
The diminutive Dijana does not look like a man who burnt the tarmac, snacked on the 90km and stormed to his third Comrades victory, clocking a time of 5:25:28 in this year’s down run edition of the Ultimate Human Race, as the race is dotingly known. It was his third win in four years, and he’s well on his way to becoming
one of Comrades’ greatest.
The 37-year-old former security guard made up for the “witchcraft” of last year, where he endured his worst performance yet, failing to finish the race and missing out on a top 10 spot. The Mahikeng-born speedster says that last year’s catastrophe was the saddest moment of his life, and a dark period that he would want forget soonest.
He attributed the disappointing result to poor nutrition, inadequate preparation and what he suspects as sabotage from people in his camp. At times, Dijana was seen taking frequent walks, with his legs as flimsy as cooked spaghetti.
“I am not sure what went wrong, but all I know is that it’s nutrition, it’s something that someone put in my supplements, or food and drinks. I cannot go and accuse those people because in South Africa, it is all about having proof. I do not have the proof, but I know what happened,” Dijana said.
“I cannot mention the names, it is in the past, and I am glad I regained the title. This year, I had to check and be careful and make sure that everything is in order. I kept my supplements and drinks locked in the boot of the car so that no one could get near them. It was about safety first because I am not sure if it was witchcraft or whether someone wanted to get me into trouble,” he added.
He says that last week, he was very comfortable and was confident that he was going to burst into the lead and gallop to victory. He mentions that even though his teammate Onalenna Khonkhobe had given himself the kind of lead that the Senzo Meyiwa murder investigators could have done with in the last 11 years, he was not too worried.
Khonkhobe, who was supposed to be a pace-setter, was flying; he opened up a massive gap, but he was not circumspect, hence his potris caught fire and his muscles packed up with only 15km to go.
In sporting terms, Onalenna had what is called a “mother-in-law” lead – he was up there but he knew he shouldn’t have been. He was hoodwinked by the cameras and cheering fans.
Dijana was born in a poor family, and after his parents divorced, he was brought up by his grandparents together with his cousins. He realised that he sucked as a soccer player but was rather blessed as a runner and that’s where the bug bit him. After a couple of try-outs, he and his running mates saw the talent and the rest, as they say, is history.
He mentions how running has changed his life since he has traded his security guard baton for running sneakers. He has now hung up his baton and ventured into business. “I think that I would be taking the space of someone who needs that job desperately if I was still there. I am still in touch with the company, but I no longer have the time to work there because I am running full-time now.
“The sport has been good to me, and I am also in e-hailing business doing Bolt. It has really changed my life for the better, and I encourage young kids to take up sports,” he added.
He also has a running team of youngsters that he coaches in Mahikeng in order to give back to the communities that are surely in need of role models and people to look up to.
Dijana is married with two kids, and says that his teenage daughter has also taken up running. “I am not sure if the apple has not fallen far from the tree. She is still 13 years old and we will see with time if she can be a star. But I am happy that she is doing sports,” he says with a twinkle in his eye.
