Two deaths rock football in Alexandra over Freedom Day weekend
The Alexandra Northrand Local Football Association mourns the two deaths that rocked the football fraternity in the township dover the Freedom Day weekend.
The Alexandra Northrand Local Football Association is in mourning after the soccer fraternity was rocked by two deaths over the Freedom Day long weekend of April 27.
The first death was that of the caretaker of the Alexandra Stadium, Mike Sibiya, who lived alone at the City of Johannesburg facility and was discovered on April 29 when a man believed to be a mashonisa came knocking on his door.
When Sibiya failed to respond to the knock, the mashonisa is said to have approached the daytime security as he could see the key was in the door lock from inside, to enquire about his whereabouts as he suspected that Sibiya was deliberately avoiding him as he ‘owes me’.
The security team then told the mashonisa they had not seen him as yet as games were being played at the stadium and asked him to come back later as they were going to check for him after the games.
After the games, the security team then went to check and after realising the key was still inside the door lock and the radio was still playing, they decided to force open the door and to their horror, they discovered he was dead.
Signs were that he might have committed suicide and metro police and the Alex SAPS were called in, and their supervisor at the City was called and informed of the discovery. Sibiya’s phone was still on the charger and they managed to trace someone who was saved in it as an aunt and informed her.
Sibiya, whose age is unknown, will be buried on May 11 after a memorial service on May 9 in Chiawela, Soweto.
He started his caretakership of the stadium around 2010 and previously rented a room in East Bank.
Meanwhile, an Alex referee living in Thembisa, Sifiso Mazibuko, was buried on May 6 at his home place, Newcastle, in KwaZulu-Natal. He died on April 29, after a long illness. Mazibuko was said to have been in and out of the hospital for close to a year before finally succumbing to illness.
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