WeeklySA_AdminSHAME OF A NATION THAT ‘EATS ITS LEGENDS’
LEGEND: A black tie fundraiser may ease Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba’s immediate hardship. His family’s appeal for basic care raises a harder question: why must a former national coach depend on charity to get it?
By Sandile Memela
There will be a fundraising gala at a country club where you pay R1000 a head for a three-course meal.
One must put on a tuxedo. It is a black tie affair. This is for Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba – the man who made Orlando Pirates dance in the 70s, the man who coached Bafana Bafana, the man who coached every national team from Under-20 to senior.
A man now sitting in a wheelchair – donated by a Good Samaritan, unable to get out of his bedroom without help.
He is 75. Bedridden with a life-threatening illness. Apparently, he has no medical aid. He cancelled it because he could no longer afford it. His family has been taking Ubers to government hospitals, buying medication from private pharmacies because the public clinic does not have it.
They may owe thousands in unpaid bills. They had to appeal on Metro FM’s SNAWA show just to get a walker, a wheelchair, groceries, hygiene products. This is nothing unusual.
It seems to be the fate of former music and sports celebrities in South Africa. One moment, they splash the money. The next they plunge into poverty and a life of lack.
We saw it with some former soccer stars begging. Legends who gave us joy, who gave this country a globally recognised sporting heritage; who made us proud during the dark days of apartheid; end up asking for help.
Why? Because we have confused fundraising dinners with a system.
‘THE BEGGING BOWL IS NOT A HEALTH POLICY’
Of course, things would clearly be better if there was no misgovernance and corruption like at Tembisa Hospital.
If hospitals were in a good condition to take care of their health needs, there would be no need for a begging bowl.
There, R1 billion was stolen through tenders – R450 000 for a mop, R500 000 for skinny jeans. Money meant for prostate cancer scans, for TB drugs, for wheelchairs, for home-care. A public healthcare system that “does not always provide all the necessary medication, forcing the family to buy costly medication from private pharmacies.”
That is what his daughter Nonhlanhla said. That is the verbatim reality of public health in Gauteng in 2026. And what is our answer? Instead, a fundraising dinner will be held to create some fund for him.
Worse, this will be addressed by a prominent politician who is the secretary-general of the ruling party. Fikile Mbalula. The same ruling party that controls the Gauteng Department of Health. This, against the backdrop of Shakes’ medical aid having lapsed while Safa officials fly business class to FIFA congresses.
So, we will have a gala. R1 000 a plate. Politicians will take pictures with Shakes in his wheelchair. They will say “we honour our legends”. They will clap. They will eat steak, chicken and fish. Washing the dinner down with Blue Label whisky. And the next day Shakes will still need an Uber to get to Helen Joseph Hospital.
It is obscene.
SYSTEMS, NOT STUNTS
It is better to put systems in place to look after the plight of the sick and aged than to host fundraising dinners to provide assistance.
What system would that be?
• A Legends Fund, by law. Not by charity. In Brazil, former national players get a state pension. In South Africa, Safa makes millions from Bafana TV rights, from sponsors. Where is the pension for the man who qualified us for AFCON twice?
• Dennis Mumble, former Safa CEO, said it himself: Shakes is in “severe financial distress.” Safa has not yet reached out, according to the family.
Why should Herman Mashaba have to donate R200 000 from his personal account when Safa has a development fund? Make it statutory: 10% of all Bafana sponsorship goes to a Legends Medical Trust.
• A functional public health system. The daughter said the most urgent need had been a wheelchair due to Mashaba’s compromised mobility. However, they have now received one from a donor. This, in a country that manufactures wheelchairs! A 75-year-old national coach had to wait for a donor to get sun in his own yard because “sitting on the bed all day is just not it.” If Tembisa was not looted, every clinic would have wheelchairs, walkers, and home-care nurses. No public appeals.
· An end to the gala-isation of governance. We love galas in South Africa. Gala dinner for GBV. Gala dinner for Shakes. Gala dinner for flood victims. Gala for a memorial lecture. Galas are not governance.The Secretary General addressing a fundraising dinner for Shakes is a performance. The system is: ensure that a man who served his country does not need a fundraising dinner.
Shakes Mashaba’s own words to his children, according to Jabu:”What if I could just get an hour without pain? That would be fine”.
One hour without pain. Not a gala. Not a speech by ‘I am Boss.’ That requires morphine, not a keynote.
Shakes Mashaba relies on a wheelchair for mobility today. Tomorrow it will be …er, another former star. Tomorrow it will be a music legend’s widow. Because we have no system for the aged.
So let the dinner happen. Let them take pictures. But let us say clearly: This is a failure. The fundraising dinner is not a solution. It is evidence of failure.
Shakes does not need our pity. He needs what he gave us: a system that works. A defence that holds. A midfield that protects the old.
Give him that, and he can get out of the bedroom. And get some sun.
Sandile Memela is a veteran journalist, a former civil servant and author
