As they say, Christmas is a time for giving, a time to spend with your loved ones, family and close friends. Now, with most people having gone back to their villages, cities, and holiday destinations, it is no different in the world of sport.
To some of Mzansi sports personalities, the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), currently taking place in Morocco, timeously came all gift-wrapped with the spirit of Christmas. As Afcon continues to captivate the attention of football followers, to some sports stars, like the 2025 Comrades Marathon winner Tete Dijana, it will be business as usual as they prepare for races early in the new year. This is how some of our sports personalities will be spending Christmas today.
Junior Khanye:
The livewire and controversial football analyst says that he will be spending Christmas with his kids, his fiancée Charmaine Padi and his newborn bambino. Khanye, who is equally loved and loathed by millions of diski fanatics in the country, has just been blessed with a new arrival in the family. It will be Khanye’s fifth child overall, and he is excited and over the moon. The loving couple has been together for 21 years.
“My brother, I am very happy that I will be spending Christmas with my kids. We were recently blessed with a child, and the family is very excited. It has been a very busy year with all my projects; we launched a new podcast, the Easter Kasi tournament, and I am now an ambassador of Betway and I am always on the road travelling. So, I hardly get quality time to spend with the kids. I will take them to matches in the local Daveyton kasi tournament,” Khanye opened up to Sunday World.
The former Kaizer Chiefs dribbling wizard Khanye has turned his life around, becoming one of the most followed and listened-to football analysts. He has reinvented himself as a straightforward analyst whose no-holds-barred dissection of the game is loved by throngs of his followers.
His playing career was cut short by living life in the fast lane. Khanye was down and out, until he redeemed himself and bounced back in a positive way.
Tete Dijana (2025 Comrades Marathon winner):
“I am here in Mahikeng with some boys and runners who are camping at my house to prepare for the 2026 Biogen 21km half-marathon in Bedfordview in early January. I am with my family, but the boys, who are still in school, will still be working hard and getting ready for the race. We will enjoy a normal Christmas, with normal food and festivities and nothing out of the ordinary,” said Dijana.
Teboho Moloi (Orlando Pirates and Bafana Bafana legend):
“Tebza Ngwana” is one of the most revered Buccaneers of all time and he will be home with friends as well. He says that he would have loved to have been at the Afcon but says he has been saving money to attend the 2026 Fifa World Cup.
In his glittering career, Moloi also played in South America for Once Caldas, a professional club in Colombia. With next year’s World Cup co-hosted by USA, Mexico and Canada, Moloi says that he will go to Mexico to hook up with former teammates for the 2026 World Cup.
“For Christmas, it will be very quiet, and I will be with my friends and some family. I will make time to travel to Mahikeng, where I grew up, and to see my old friends and teammates such as Timothu “TNT” Lesejane. Christmas is for family, and I won’t be galivanting all over Gauteng,” he said.
Macdonald Makhubedu (Sekhunekhune United Sporting Director):
One of the most up and coming coaches in the PSL says that it has been a very busy and productive year for him, and he just wants to spend this time at his village in Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga.
“I am slaughtering a goat and will be eating a lot of meat with my friends and family at the village. My schedule was hectic, I did a Uefa-B coaching license in Scotland and then I did a CAF-A later on. I am proud of myself, and I am the only Black sporting director in the country. I just want to enjoy Bushbuckridge this festive season and also eat a lot of mangoes, avocados and watermelons,” Makhubedu said.
