Had Sechaba Mofokeng got his way, South Africans would never have seen the wizardry of his twinkle-toed teenage son Relebohile, who has the nation under his spell in his maiden season in the professional soccer ranks.
The 19-year-old has caught the attention of a nation that marks Youth Day on Sunday. In a country where thousands of his peers are caught in a cesspool of drug abuse or are drowning in a sea of hopelessness, he is exploiting the platform provided by Orlando Pirates to great effect.
Jersey number 38 was a showstopper in the recently concluded 2023/24 DStv Premiership campaign, a season of recognition for the scorer of five goals and six assists in 38 games in all competitions, efforts that helped the Sea Robbers’ sail to second spot and snatch the MTN8 and Nedbank Cup silverware.
His bold feats piqued the interest of English Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers, who invited Mofokeng for an evaluation.
Bafana Bafana boss Hugo Broos gave the sensational Sharpeville-born greenhorn a first call-up for Nigeria and Zimbabwe 2026 World Cup qualifier clashes.
A couple of accolades lie in prospect at the Premier Soccer League awards next Sunday for the rising star who made his Bafana debut during the tail end of a rip-roaring 3-1 defeat of Zimbabwe in Bloemfontein on Tuesday night: he is nominated for the Nedbank Cup most promising player of the tournament and PSL young player of the season. The only child of Naome and Sechaba seems a shoo-in.
He was named Rebohile because “I wanted a boy and got a boy, so I was thankful. He is a blessing”, Naome told me. None of the headline-grabbing heroics have turned the youngster's head. He remains rooted in being “respectful, humble and well-mannered in the way we raised him”, she said.
But Sechaba wanted his son to stay far away from football, a sport he said broke his heart when he thought he had hit the big time.
“I told him football hurt me. I didn’t even watch him play. I could have played for Pirates before him. [Former Pirates player] Bennett Chenene, took me there. After two days of training the foreign coach who was there told me to leave,” he said. “So, I wanted Rele to study, to shield him from going through the heartache of being disappointed. I was praying that he should not love football like I did.”
His wife would have none of it and supported to the hilt their offspring’s dream of becoming a professional player. “She played a big supportive role. Every game, she was there, dark or blue, rain or not. She said your boy will love it more than you and he will make you happy.
“Now, young as he is, he’s showing South Africans that he's a good footballer. We all laugh when I tell him 'I was supposed to play for Pirates before you'. [On Thursday] at the mall people were taking pictures. I sometimes ask him mfethu, are you seriously my child and he says 'the one and only child of you and mama, you guys made me like this'. He is humble.”
Mofokeng is the product of a love affair that began on a football pitch. His parents first met at Mafube FC in Sharpeville. The love-struck Sechaba followed up by heading to her home . “I found her doing the washing. She said we are not training today. I told her I was there for her heart. We exchanged numbers. I pursued her for two weeks. I would fetch her from her home and walk her to school while carrying her school bag. I took her on dates and to the movies. She made me work hard to win her over,” he laughs.
Naome said: “I played for the girls’ team and his father for the boys'. I was a defender and could play as a left-back, centre-back and right-back, even defensive midfielder. I almost became a Banyana Banyana player but missed out on selection when I discovered I was pregnant with Rele ... I was doing grade 12 in 2004.”
Mofokeng burst onto the scene bearing his mother's surname, Ratome. “His father went to play in the Eastern Cape and I was working. We were not married, so Rele went to stay with my mother, lived with my mom's sister and stayed with his father's mother too. When he was in grade three or four we fetched him to live with us,” said Naome. Sechaba paid ilobolo in 2020 and they signed in 2021. When Mofokeng joined Pirates, his parents had started the process of changing his surname to Mofokeng.
Sechaba recalled that when his son was young, “every Sunday he would cry and want to go to church with the neighbours, be they from ZCC, Apostle, you name them ... when he saw them in church uniform he would cry and want to tag along, and we let him. I guess they prayed for him to be a good child at the churches they went to”.
Naome said Mofokeng was destined to be a footballer “because he speaks only about football and has his father's football brain and my speed. I was very fast”. That combination is evident in his healthy knack of eliminating opponents with pacy, timed to perfection peel-off moves.
In the Eastern Cape, Sechaba turned out for Umtata Liverpool and Tembu Royals. He blasted a 25m belter for third tier outfit Tembu Royals against elite side AmaZulu in a Nedbank Cup last 32 tie, one of the goals of the tournament.
His son went one better at the Mbombela Stadium a fortnight ago, coming off the bench to steal the show with a last-gasp stunner of a goal that made the youngest player on the pitch become the youngest ever to score in a Premier Soccer League final.
It was a typical Mofokeng goal: he collected a Monnapule Saleng deft pass from the left, beat the marker, cut inside and nutmegged Bongani Zungu before sending the ball past South Africa's No 1 gloveman and Bafana captain Ronwen Williams. The momentous goal reduced Naome to tears.
“We were there live. The club gave us five tickets for VIP, five for the open stands. We took two for the open stands and gave the rest to the people. On Saturday morning he sent a message that he was sad he wasn’t starting. You will score today, his mother replied. She always talks to him before a game. When Rele scored that last minute goal, Naome just cried non-stop, even after the match,” said Sechaba.
In a post-match TV interview, the showstopper said: “I was feeling bad [about not starting] but then I had to keep up with the game and enjoy watching the game, and just look and see what to do and then ja, just be a game changer. Most of my goals are like that you know. Ja, it’s hard but I tried. I did everything to get a goal and make my name. So ja, I am grateful.”
It was a sensational goal by the wing wizard and School of Excellence graduate and denied seven-time league champions Mamelodi Sundowns a domestic double.
The school recruited him after he starred against them for Sharpeville's Celed youth academy where he cut his teeth.
“That's the team that made Rele. He played for Celed from grade 4 to grade 7 and was captain. He won lots of tournaments. After playing a friendly game with School of Excellence, they took him for assessment and signed him. He matriculated there and joined Orlando Pirates in 2022, said Naome.”
The Mofokengs are proud of their son's demeanour despite the glamour. His Instagram page is bereft of things flashy and fancy, a trait footballers often wear as a badge of honour.
“To me, he is Relebohile, not a celebrity, he's just my child who listens. Even today playing for a big club [like] Pirates he is still a child who is 19 and I still send him on errands,” said Naome. “He knows the boundaries. People greet him and take pictures with him. I respect him too much. He loved nice things, he still buys them, but he loved mokopu (pumpkin), even now he still does. He is not choosy.”
To me, he is Relebohile, not a celebrity, he's just my child who listens. Even today playing for a big club [like] Pirates he is still a child who is 19 and I still send him on errands
— Mom Naome Mofokeng
“What you see is what you get with my son. He helps us a lot. As I am talking to you now, he is helping people put on tiles at home,” said Sechaba. “He hasn't changed one bit. Rele is a good child, he is nice. I tell him not everyone is going to love you because you are not money. Keep the same friends. Don't recruit new ones. Whoever was not there when you had nothing must not be here when you have something. Keep your privacy the way it is.”
In one of the pictures he posted on his Instagram account, Mofokeng poses — with his back facing the camera — wearing a black T-shirt inscribed with “Don’t follow the wave” in bold white capitals.
He captions most of his pictures in action for Pirates with positive messaging. “It’s possible” reads one below a picture of him beaming his famous warm smile when coming onto the pitch.
Naome recalls with glee how they received news of his Bafana inclusion. “We were holding hands when the clock ticked 12.20 and the coach read out Rele’s name, we exploded with joy. It was just the two of us in the house, oh my God, we just went crazy, screaming at the top of our voices. Maybe the neighbours thought we were fighting. We even blew vuvuzelas,” she said.
On match day?
“We were there in Bloem and witnessed the love, the screaming, the happiness when he came on,” said Sechaba. “We felt that our child is loved. Even though he got only a few minutes, that cap was special for him. And when Ronwen carried him on his shoulders, it was emotional,” said Naome.
Any treats for father and son seeing today is both Youth and Father's day? She laughs. “I will be working, ngwaneso. I work in the butchery at Pick n Pay in Vanderbijlpark.”
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