Bongani Zungu saga: it would be nice if wasn’t crocodile tears

This is the reason why there have been violent reactions to soccer results that have seen stadiums being burnt and property destroyed. Mind you, I am in no way condoning that nonsense.

I get angry every time I watch the Lotto draw and my numbers are not there and spend the night wondering why this is happening to me and I usually lose sleep over it.

So I made a decision that I won’t watch the draw live and only check it in the paper in the mornings. That way I have the liberty to think myself as a multi-millionaire before sleep takes me. And it happens quickly when you are thinking happy thoughts.

I know it’s not easy to stay calm in a situation that drains you. The only person I know who seems immune to situations – good or bad – is Steve Komphela. I don’t think I have ever seen him angry.

He just takes everything on the chin and moves on. And for coaches to take bad results is not easy, especially if there was a refereeing mistake involved. And their reaction is required immediately in the post-match TV and press interviews.

Many say weird things. And some have even claimed that immediacy of the post-match interviews are what makes it hard for them to recollect their thoughts and professionalism.

Now, this is why I say it was just crocodile tears, what we saw with Bongani Zungu, who posted a video last weekend where he was answering supporters’ questions and said he was hurting from his snub.

Just a few months earlier, the same Zungu skipped a Bafana camp claiming injury. He refused that it be attended by Bafana’s doctors and said he would go back to his team in France immediately so that the doctors familiar with it could look at it. But he ended up spending the entire week in the country, hosting parties to celebrate his birthday.

His bad-mannered reaction came weeks after the snub had happened and he had had time to think it over and had also been advised, by his own submission, by his family and manager to not say anything about the issue publicly. He even had the mind to say it in his native isiZulu so his manager couldn’t hear him.

He was just crying crocodile tears and it is a bad reflection on him both as a person and professional.

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