Former Bafana Bafana international Ramahlwe Mphahlele has revealed in an emotional interview why he left Mamelodi Sundowns despite his success there.
The 36-year-old retired defender explained that the move was driven by the need to financially liberate his family, as his earnings were insufficient to fund his siblings’ university education or provide a house for his mother.
Joining Kaizer Chiefs in August 2016 gave him the means to make those sacrifices, allowing his brother to complete a BCom and his sister to become an electrical engineer.
“A lot of people don’t know the reason I left Sundowns, my sister wanted to go to varsity. She didn’t have money,” Mphahlele said on SNAWA.
“I wasn’t making that much. My brother was finishing [high school], he wanted to go to university, so for me I wanted to liberate my people hence I made certain decisions in life. Mom didn’t have a house and I just wanted to see them well off. My brother finished his BCom, my sister is an electrical engineer. My heart is pure.
“I didn’t make decisions for me. I made them so that my people can have a better life because if I didn’t give them a better life, no one was going to give them a better life. Mom wasn’t working, Dad wasn’t supporting us so I was the only option. From where I’m from, there’s not too many options,” Mphahlele, who was on the books of Orbit College last season, continued.
“I come from nothing and some decisions I made, I was scared that if I don’t liberate my family and take them to school then they’ll forever be my burden. So, but I needed to make certain decisions for them [siblings] to go to school and when I left Sundowns then I could afford to take them to school.”
