Читать книгу Putco Mafani: The Price and Prize of Greatness - Putco Mafani - Страница 5

Kaizer Motaung

Executive Chairman – Kaizer Chiefs Football Club

When Louis ‘Sprinter’ Tshakoane left Kaizer Chiefs in 1999, we needed to find a new public relations officer. I used to listen to Putco Mafani on the SABC and gathered that he was a Kaizer Chiefs supporter. Because of the position Putco had at the SABC, we thought he would do well with communications at the club. I decided to meet him. We didn’t even advertise the vacant post. We sat down at Chiefs Village with him and had a fruitful discussion. We were happy to hear that he was interested in working with us.

Putco joined Kaizer Chiefs in July 1999. He had big shoes to fill, and the first Vodacom Challenge was about to kick off. But I needn’t have worried – Putco was simply amazing and hit the ground running. Of course, it helped that he worked with a good team, which included Emy Casaletti-Bwalya and her sister, Vivian.

Putco had a gift for capturing the audience. It was therefore no wonder that he developed an excellent rapport with our supporters. He was a natural. To reach out to the supporters was important and he interacted a lot with the branches, travelling all over the country. He did that with a swagger as if he had prepared for this role his whole life. The supporters adored him. To see him in action explained why: Putco combined unbelievable charisma with a good sense of humour.

When Putco invited me to write a preface for his book, I knew this would be loaded with his life with us in the Kaizer Chiefs family. I knew we would see him as a public relations officer and an entertainer, a comforter, a preacher – just like our village pastor – and a strategist. Putco believed we could achieve anything on offer. To him, nothing really seemed impossible and sometimes his utterances at press conferences made coaches shake their heads in disbelief.

I have no doubt this book will make people discover greatness in themselves as did our players, our supporters and his colleagues in the management and on the staff at Kaizer Chiefs. Putco’s mobility and ability to organise were a wonder and we were always in awe of his passion for making others happy, sometimes at his own peril.

There are traits of leadership that we discovered about Tshawe (Putco’s clan name) on his journey with us. I will never forget the incredible role he played on 11 April 2001 – the day of the Ellis Park Stadium disaster. When the problems broke out at the stadium during a Soweto Derby between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, there was mayhem. People panicked, which made the situation even worse. I still vividly remember how Putco took the microphone and started speaking. It was impossible to prepare for what he did. His words captured the attention of everybody, both in the stadium and watching the game on television at home. What was more important was that Putco’s words calmed the waters. It was an unbelievable achievement.

We started the following 2001/2002 season excellently, winning in the space of six months the Vodacom Challenge, the BP Top Eight, the Coca-Cola Cup and, most importantly, the African Cup Winners’ Cup. That’s when Putco came up with the theme ‘Operation Vat Alles’ – ‘Operation Take All’. It was a typical example of how he invented interesting and innovative slogans. He had the ability to keep our fans fired up all the time. We did so, ‘taking all’ of the knock-out trophies on offer, but sadly the league title eluded us in 2001. That was because of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, for which a few of our players were selected to represent South Africa. We had to play catch-up afterwards and that simply became a bit too much.

Putco was more than just a public relations officer. He was an all-rounder, a great entertainer who could also sing. There was never a dull moment when he was around. He was such good company. Putco is a great personality with immense character. On top of that, he has a unifying factor about him and I can’t ever remember him having a serious disagreement with a fellow staff member. He left us in April 2005.

Putco had an illustrious career at Chiefs and we are proud to have shared our journey with him for six years. He will always feature prominently in the history of our club. We wish him all the best in his future endeavours and wish to see the day his dream baby oil company thrives. If it’s not that, then through his radio station business and his new passion for writing books, Putco will have enough money to invest in Kaizer Chiefs. I have no doubt this book will make a great read and I implore anyone seeking greatness to try his approach of loving people and loving what one does.