Africa Soccer SOUTH AFRICA : ROAD ACCIDENTS KILL 11 PLAYERS IN 17 YEARS

The death of Mamelodi Sundowns defender Motjeka Madisha in a car accident on Saturday nights means that 11 South African footballers have lost their lives in such a manner in the last 17 years.

The statistics are even more shocking considering that South Africa has lost eight footballers in the last five years, often registering two deaths every year since 2015.

The biggest casualty has been Sundowns who have now lost four players—Anele Ngcongca, Gift Leremi, Richard Hanyekane and Madisha—connected to the Pretoria giants since 2003.

The overall statistics are counted from 2003 when Orlando Pirates star striker Lesley Manyathela died in a car accident at the age of 21.

Then a road accident death struck Sundowns in 2007 after gifted winger Gift Lereni was killed on the road of South Africa.

Ironically, Lereni and Manyathela were team-mates at Pirates in the previous years.

In 2015, the roads of South Africa cost the life of former Golden Boot Awardee Richard Henyekane, an ex-player for Golden Arrows, Free State Stars and Sundowns.

Later in the same year of 2015, Cecil Lolo also died in a head-on collision that ended the life of the Pirates footballer.

A year later, there was yet another tragedy after Mondli Cele, a Maritzburg United midfielder, lost his life on the road after his car veered off the road on a Sunday morning.

In 2017, another Maritzburg player Mlondi Dlamini also died in similar circumstances following by Mogau Tshehla (2018), Sinethemba Jantjie (2019) and Thembinkosi Mbamba (2019).

Then weeks ago, former Sundowns defender Ngcongca died after the car he was travelling in veered off the road and crashed in Kwa Zulu-Natal.

The 33-year-old had just signed for AmaZulu after leaving the South African champions.


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