TBT: Scelo Zuma

The 35-year-old reveals how he and veteran striker Siyabonga Nomvethe were always ridiculed at AmaZulu because of the way they spoke English.

“We once went on camp with AmaZulu, coach Zobel (Rainer) was giving us team building exercises and decided to throw in an activity to have us speak and ask each other questions,” Zuma told Phakaaathi. “Before we started, coach Zobel came to Bhele and I and told us that we should relax and write down our answers in IsiZulu. Then we went back to join the group.”

“When the questions were asked, they switched back to English and asked how we would survive if a plane crashed in the dessert, Bhele just said, ‘I will find Nando’s’. We all laughed and I think we didn’t understand the other questions.

“We laughed the fact that English gave us a hard time.”

Zuma then recalls how a young Sibusiso Kumalo could not ask MacBeth Sibaya about his car and Swallows because he could not pronounce its name.

“Macberth Sibaya used to drive a Porsche when he came to Swallows. Sibusiso Kumalo was young at the time, he is at Wits now,” commented Zuma. “So Sibusiso would always say I like McBerth’s car but he never told him whenever he drove in or when he was around. One day he told us that he can’t talk to McBerth about this car because he doesn’t even know what the name of the car is and wouldn’t know how to start the conversation.

“He was young and shy at the time and would tell me about this car that he likes but doesn’t know what it is or how to pronounce the name. In the end we all laughed about it and MacBerth told him what it was and how it’s pronounced.”

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