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The imminent departure of Reneilwe “Yeye” Letsholonyane should act as a wake-up call for Kaizer Chiefs.
The player leaves after what can easily be called eight glorious years, that is if you leave out this past year which was as pedestrian and as forgetable as they come.
In the same year he joined, Yeye was part of the team that won the MTN8, a cup they also claimed in 2004. He can also count the 2012/13 Absa Premiership title, two Telkom Knockout trophies (2009 and 2010), the 2010 Telkom Charity Cup and the Nedbank Cup in 2013), among his achievements.
And just for posterity, he can also mention the 2013 Carling Black Label Cup that is contested for by the club he is leaving and it’s spiritual ancestor, Orlando Pirates, on his CV.
These achievements show that the player can be labelled neither a drone nor even some sort of a lazybones.
In the period, he scored 27 goals in 254 appearances and entered the field a half-a-century times for Bafana Bafana, chipping in with two goals. A great passer of the ball, Letsholonyane was wont to find his team-mates with pinpoint, defence-splitting passes through the eye of a needle.
It is a fact that, while at 33 a spring chicken he ain’t, he is still a great player and has at least two years of top football left in his legs.
His departure is a great loss to Amakhosi but should also serve as a wake-up call. Why? It might even turn to be a blessing in disguise.
I think Chiefs have in the past few years overly relied on Yeye and current skipper Siphiwe Tshabalala.
While they have led with aplomb, the past season has shown that the club’s squad does need some serious replenishing and the pair gave signs that they have indeed lost a yard or two in their step.
Now, with Yeye gone, the club should embark on a serious rebuilding process.
There are just too many positions that need to be strengthened if Amakhosi want to re-establish themselves as giants of South African football once more.
This barren season was not just a coincidence, the club lacked firepower in critical departments.
It is noticeable that the club did not go out to replace players such as Tefo Mashamaite and Mandla Masango who were part of the championship-winning machine.
For Yeye to jump ship with a few years of football left in him while on the verge of achieving legendary status at Chiefs, can be read as symptomatic of a bigger problem.
The player was at such a stage of his career that most expected him to end it in Naturena.
Steve Komphela – whose capability to take Chiefs to the next level is doubted by some – has spoken about rebuilding and bringing in players of his choice to the club.
It is vital that Chiefs revert to what they have been known for since their birth in 1970, up to the 1990s and a bit of the 2000s - the ability to build formidable teams that were nearly invincible.
It is a crying shame for a club as big as Kaizer Motaung’s brainchild to go a season without a trophy.
What rubbed salt into the festering wounds of the Amakhosi faithful is the fact that their beloved club reached and lost in two cup finals. Add to that how meekly they surrendered the league title and you are sure to rate this as a disastrous season.
The club should not only look out for Letsholonyane’s replacement, a player who would be the cog in the engine room, but must overhaul their entire squad
