Pampered in life, Satmos ignored in death
Mqondisi Dube | Friday March 31, 2017 15:52
FC Satmos have been removed from the life support system. The inevitable is agonisingly close. The mourning is already in process.
A club born out of former SATMOS group of companies director, the late Sam Sono’s idea, is about to reach a dead end. Relegation from the First Division has been looming all season long, but was brutally confirmed nearly a week ago.
The signs were ominous when the team bus broke down in Topisi, about 100 kilometres from their destination, Mahalapye where the side was due to meet its fate in front of their opponents, BR Highlanders. They never kicked a ball to confirm their drop to football’s third tier that fateful trip ending in the middle of nowhere in little known Topisi. It was probably a fitting end to a season that promised absolutely nothing, and petered out in heart wrenching fashion.
Their season long troubles, which saw even top officials abandon the team at the greatest hour of need, justified the application of euthanasia.
With their relegation from the First to the Second Division, Satmos are still breathing, but just. It means they are still alive and have to face the everyday challenges of paying bills. They have to travel to fulfil fixtures, players have to be paid, committee members have to meet to discuss team matters; too much to ask from an ailing side.
Satmos’ body is too weak to contemplate carrying out all the daunting tasks. The coup de grace is the best alternative escape route out of the gruesome football challenges.
Then at last, the side would breathe its last breath and peacefully sleep. Selebi-Phikwe football would never be the same. Sono’s dream would be dead, sadly following him 13 years after his departure. Sono was a man with a vision, particularly passionate about Satmos, a club named after him; Samuel Thotogelo Molati Sono.
Radio personality, former Satmos chairperson and goalkeeper, Monnakgotla Mojaki was there when Satmos transformed from Copper Chiefs in 1996 and knows the pain of seeing a dream turn into a nightmare.
“Greed has killed Satmos. There are some people who thought the club was making a lot of money, particularly when we finished sixth two seasons ago. All they were interested in was the bank account,” Mojaki said.
He said there were other factors like the docking of points for what was deemed as the illegal use of striker, Sadiki Takunda, which he felt denied Satmos fire power at a critical time.
Mojaki wants the coup de grace applied right away as he does not see the club surviving in the second division as long as the economic situation of Selebi-Phikwe remains dire.
“We have to shelve the club until a time when the economy (of Selebi-Phikwe) improves,” he says. Mojaki has praises for former club director, Mooketsi ‘China’ Mading, arguing he has done a lot for the club despite internal negativity.
Mading took over the club following Sono’s death and tried his all to steer the ship to safer waters although there was the unrelenting writing on the wall, frequently rearing its ugly head.
But all appeared rosy for Satmos just two seasons back when the team finished sixth in the then beMOBILE Premier League and made its maiden appearance in the Mascom Top 8. However, Satmos, just like forgotten fellow Selebi-Phikwe side Mosquito, suffered a spectacular collapse.
They fell from the top flight then straight from the First Division to the second. Mosquito did the same and have never been heard from.
Mojaki and hundred other supporters, is left with nothing but bittersweet memories from a promising era.
“I remember all the great players, Aaron Mumba, Ebineng Kempes, Nosa and Ernest Dube, Peter Morris, Kagiso Tshelametsi and Mogogi Gabonamong,” he remembers with nolstagia.
Now, he said, the best the Selebi-Phikwe Town Council could do, is to honour the late Sono and follow through a motion to rename the council stadium after the fallen businessman.
“It’s sad to see an institution die just like that. Sono’s dream was to play in Africa. Greed has killed a dream. If at least they honour Sono that will bring peace to me,” Mojaki said.
Mogakolodi ‘Stix’ Chepete, one of the few Satmos players to represent the Zebras in recent times, was equally devastated.
“Go thata (it’s tough). I remember the time when we won the Botswana Life Cup and reached the final of the Coca Cola Cup. That was the highlight, and people gave the team all the support it needed, but abandoned it when things went wrong,” Chepete said.
He felt if all the remaining Satmos founders could come together, the club could be revived, although that appears a mammoth task.
For now, the town is crest fallen, as, after BCL Mine, another giant has succumbed. There might still be more heartache in store for the town as Nico United are in the BTC Premiership’s red zone.