SHARPEVILLE.- This foundation which is steered by Matthews Nzimande who is a businessman donated a motorized wheelchair, microwave and cell phone to Lehoko, much to the delight of his family.
The donation took place at Lehoko’s home in Vuka, Sharpeville with neighbours, community leaders and friends coming to witness this handover. Former Kaizer Chiefs great Scara Thindwa also donated a blanket to this former Kaizer Chiefs great through Liberty broker. Speaking to Sedibeng Ster Sport, Nzimande said that growing up as a young boy from Sebokeng he always admired this former Kaizer Chiefs great. He told Sedibeng Ster Sport that after he saw the news that Lehoko was on a wheelchair three years ago, he made a commitment to help him and he visited Lehoko to find out how he can help him and his family.
“I was very touched to learn about Ntate Lehoko’s condition through the media and visited him to ask how can I help him. This is the commitment that the Matthews Nzimande Foundation has made, to see how best we can assist him. He gave us his wish list which included to improve his house which is something that we are working on. We want to help as much as we can to improve Ntate Lehoko’s life because as soon as these former footballers retire from top flight football we forgot about them. It must be our responsibility as business people to as much as we can. I’m happy that we have done something for him and we are still going to assist with other things. I grew up in Sebokeng I used to watch Ntate Lehoko playing for Kaizer Chiefs,” said Nzimande.
Thindwa told Sedibeng Ster Sport that Lehoko and other players of his generation he played with, paved the way for them to play for this legendary club.
“These are the people who paved the way for us and playing for Kaizer Chiefs it was a great honour for me. I donated this blacket because this legend happens to have played for the same team that I played for,” said Thindwa.
Lohoko was overwhelmed by this donation and said he was speechless and humbled at the same time, adding that he was happy to see that people like Nzimande still remember them (former players) even though the community or soccer fans have forgotten about them.
“This means a lot to me and my family because we as former soccer players feel neglected as soon as we retire from football. I want to thank Matthews Nzimande and Scara Thindwa for their generosity. We wish you can do the same to others especially former soccer greats who are struggling,” he said.
Lehoko also took this opportunity to go down memory lane sharinghis memories when he played for Kaizer Chiefs. He also reflected back to the formation of Vaal Professional which became one of the most feared teams in South African football and also shared his frustration with Sedibeng Ster Sport how Vaal Pros was relegated from top flight football because of ownership dispute.
