“I have gone to war with Lucas Radebe fighting for this country, so I will guarantee you that I will be in full support of one of my generals.”
These are the powerful and profound words of former Bafana Bafana and FC Copenhagen legend Sibusiso Zuma, who says he is in full support of his former teammate and captain Radebe’s ambitions to one day become the president of the South African Football Association (Safa).
Recently, Radebe opened up to this publication about his strong ambitions of wanting to succeed Danny Jordaan and head the embattled Safa some day.
Zuma, 48, who shared the field with Radebe during the 2002 Fifa World Cup in Korea/Japan, said he was fully behind his former Bafana captain, should he decide to run for the Safa presidency. “I don’t know about the things that are happening or if there is gatekeeping at Safa but one thing I’m going to guarantee you is that whatever Lucas does, I am going to support him,” Zuma exclusively told Sunday World this week.
“Lucas was my captain for close to 10 years. I have gone to war with that guy – went to countless qualifications away from home fighting for this country, so I will support one of my generals. “Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against anyone, but the guy has been my teammate for many years.”
The former Copenhagen star, who is famous for his overhead kick goal against Brondby in the final match of the 2001 Superliga Championship, confirmed he has been having meetings with Safa. “I have been having a lot of meetings with Safa, they have involved me in a lot of stuff. In as much as they are trying their best in terms of development, something that takes time, we should have done this just after the 2010 World Cup.
“At the end of the day, the goal is to see our national teams perform – qualify for the Afcon, World Cup and qualify for other tournaments. The goal is to also see our players in top academies and teams in Europe – because fighting each other doesn’t work and will not take us anywhere.”
