Monday, January 22, 2007

Mototo bags number 500

Ditheko Mototo © Touchline

On the 10th August 1996 Thabang Lebese’s solitary goal against Jomo Cosmos in The Amakhosi’s first game in the inaugural season of the Premier Soccer League in the 1996-1997 season, opened up Chiefs goal scoring account in the PSL.This is after the NSL(National Soccer League) was dismantled after some 20yrs to form the new PSL.

Eleven seasons later and Chiefs managed to score their 500th PSL goal, against the same opponents that they scored their first PSL goal against back in 1996. As Chiefs went down 2-1 against Cosmos on Sunday most Chiefs fans were more concerned with the fact that their team did not take three points with them back to Johannesburg, and it might have passed them by that Chiefs had reached a historical landmark during the game.

Perhaps only a small number of The Amakhosi faithful in Orkney would have given some thought to the fact that when, Ditheko Mototo managed to find an equalizer in the twenty-fifth minute of Sunday’s game against Cosmos, he also wrote himself into the Chiefs history books scoring PSL goal number 500 for The Amakhosi; it was not just the fans who were not aware of the historical importance of Mototo’s goal.

Speaking after Sunday’s game Mototo who does not often work his way onto the score sheet, was not aware that he just become apart of history.

The Chiefs defender said; “to tell you the truth I really did not know that the goal I scored was Chiefs 500th in the PSL, when we went into the change room at half time a couple of the guys came to me and congratulated and explained to me the importance of the goal”.

Mototo explained further; “I think losing the game took some of the sparkle off the goal, had we won the game it would obviously have felt much better, it does though feel nice to know that you have contributed to the history of this wonderful team”.

Having now notched up their 500th PSL goal Chiefs will now be aiming to get their next 100 PSL goals; on average it has taken The Amakhosi two years to score 100 goals so expect Chiefs to score their 600th PSL Goal sometime in January 2009. Chiefs first opportunity to begin carving out their next 100 goals comes this Saturday when they host Ajax Cape Town, in a league game to be played at Loftus Stadium in Tshwane.

Kaizer Chiefs Milestone PSL Goals

PSL Goal Number One

Thabang Lebese
10th August 1996
Kaizer Chiefs 1 Jomo Cosmos 0

PSL Goal Number 100

Marc Batchelor
25th April 1998
Kaizer Chiefs 2 Moroka Swallows 0
Chiefs second goal in the game was their 100th

PSL Goal Number 200

Emeka Mamale
1st December 1999
Kaizer Chiefs 1 SuperSport United 0

PSL Goal Number 300

Aime Kitenge (own goal)
26th September 2002
Kaizer Chiefs 1 Dynamos 0

PSL Goal Number 400

Emmanuel Ngobese
5th January 2005
Kaizer Chiefs 1 Santos 0
PSL Goal Number 500

Ditheko Mototo
21st January 2007
Jomo Cosmos 2 Kaizer Chiefs 1

Monday, January 15, 2007

Kaizer Chiefs turns 37!!



As the first week of the New Year comes to an end there has for the past three decades been a good reason for, Kaizer Chiefs fans and players alike to look forward to the culmination of the first week of the year.

The reason for this and the fact that the club and its fans have a second celebration on the back of the New Year's festivities a few days earlier is simple.

The final day of the first week of January or to be precise the 7th January marks the day that Kaizer Chiefs was founded back in 1970, by current club chairman Kaizer Motaung along with the assistance of a number of friends and associates.

Kaizer Motaung founded the club upon his return from the United States of America where he had been playing in the old North American League for the Atlanta Chiefs, whose motif with a few additions eventually became the logo which has adorned the Kaizer Chiefs jersey ever since.

In their short history, Kaizer Chiefs have entered South African Football Folklore as perhaps the most successful team in the country having won more trophies and accolades in its thirty seven year existence, then most teams currently campaigning in the South African professional leagues.

Chiefs finest moment in recent years amongst the many titles and trophies they have amassed over time, has to be when the club was nominated as the 2001 Confederation of African Football Club of the Year.

It was an honour bestowed upon them after Chiefs had won three trophies in the space of three months towards the end of 2001, included in that wonderful run of cup triumphs from September to December 2001 was the club's triumph in the African Cup Winners Cup otherwise known as the Nelson Mandela Cup.

In July 2006 Chiefs scored another coup for South African Football when they managed to defeat English Premier League Giants Manchester United in the Vodacom Challenge, thanks to an inspirational meeting the team had with former South African President Nelson Mandela the day before the final.

Down the years, the club has earned the nickname The Amakhosi which is a translation of the word Chiefs from English to a number of the vernacular African languages.

The team has also been Chiefs off the field in South African football, leading the way with a number of new innovations, and are still the only team in South Africa to have their own monthly magazine.

The club was also the first to broaden its licensing and merchandising programme, and has made available in the market place products such as blankets, towels and shoes to name a few available to their legions of fans to happily display their support for the club.

As Chiefs enter their 37th year in existence, they do so with the knowledge that by the time the club nears its thirty ninth birthday, it will begin playing matches in its very own stadium, to be built in the Mogale Municipality west of the Johannesburg CBD.

Construction of The Amakhosi Stadium which is due to begin soon will see Chiefs become the first soccer team to, both own and operate their own Stadium which is earmarked for completion in December 2008.

While the future looks bright for Chiefs and as those currently in the employment of the club hope to build on Chiefs glittering past, this was filled with many happy walks to the podium to collect the cup at the end of another triumphant Cup or league campaign. They will know that the best wealth the club possess is its millions of fans not just in South Africa but in recent years the club has had a growing legion of supporters across the globe, and it is the fans who will make sure that the club sees many more happy birthdays.

To Kaizer Chiefs from all players and staff to all the fans in South Africa and around the world happy birthday.


Time to stay up



Update on Kaizer Chiefs' league encounters:

There was always the possibility that the start of the week could turn out to resemble the overcast skies that we have experienced over Johannesburg in recent times.

It could have been a blue Monday for us had we not pushed hard in the second half against Benoni United on Sunday, as we eventually got the goals which won us the points. The reason I say it could have turned out differently is because in the first half of Sunday’s game against Benoni, the visiting team gave as good as they got - as much as we attacked them they threw back at us.

During that first half, we were fortunate that a free-kick Benoni Premier United had after about 30 minutes ricocheted off the cross bar and went out. We too had numerous scoring chances in the opening period but we just could not find the breakthrough.

Having Siyabonga Nkosi back did make a difference for us; he along with Gert Schalkwyk and Kaizer Junior did ask a number of questions of the Benoni defence. In the second half we picked up the tempo and got the goals that we deserved - as a coach when you make a substitution your intention is to bring on players who will make a difference and change the current state of the game.

Thankfully on Sunday a double substitution we made inside the first 10 minutes of the second half helped lift our game, as Arthur Zwane and Scara Ngobese came off the bench and helped give the guys a boost. The pair were involved in the action from the beginning. Scara got us the breakthrough with a well-taken goal, Arthur battled well and he too was able to get in a number of dangerous crosses into the Benoni penalty area.

I think that we improved a lot in the second half of Sunday’s game and we should have continued pressurizing the opposition and should have pressed for more goals.

Having said that,I must add that Siyabonga Nkosi was unfortunate not to have scored from a free-kick late on in the second half. The fact that we are asking questions of the opposition from set pieces, throw-ins and dead balls situations show that we are making a lot of strides in becoming a complete team.

There are a number of issues that occurred prior to and during Sunday’s game which I wish to bring to light. The first thing is I know that it was reported that we started with a 4-5-1 combination against Benoni United. Actually this is not entirely true - I have said this before and I will make it clear again, against Benoni we played using two strikers in a 4-4-2 formation. This is not the first time that Gert Schalkwyk has been used as a second striker; if you can race your mind back to the pre-season one would find that we used him as second striker in a number of pre season matches. It is a position where he has slotted into without any difficulty and as time goes on, and if the need arises, I am certain that we could continue using him as a second striker.

Another issue that I feel needs addressing, is the treatment been meted out by a number of fans towards David Obua. It is very strange for me to see that a year ago Obua could do no wrong and was the darling of all the fans - today after a few indifferent performances he has become public enemy number one.

Obua might not be having the best of times on the field of play but that is no reason for people to shout abuse at him, all players go through good and bad spells. Instead of being abusive to him or any player experiencing a dip in form, we need to help guide them through what can sometimes be a very trying and testing time. My advice is to help the players through their tough times by supporting them and being an extra leg to stand on and be a motivating factor in getting them back to their best once more.

The final issue I would like to raise is the way our team began playing around with the ball after we had scored our second goal on Sunday. I have said it before that I am not one who encourages ‘Tsamaya’ football. I think that dancing on the ball and embarrassing your opponent by doing these crazy tricks is really disrespectful and I do not approve of it. I did raise this with the team on Sunday and I said that it must not happen; I recall a game against Sundowns last season when one of their players toyed around with us.

We did not like it and I told my players at that time that in the same way that we did not like being messed around with; we should not do it in matches when we are dominating proceedings. Instead I would prefer for our team to press home the advantage and go for more goals, we need goals because there could come a time when goal difference could work against us.

When that does happen we will then run back and think about the time when we should have scored goals instead we preferred to behave like the Harlem Globetrotters and put up an exhibition instead of scoring goals.

Anyway I think I have said a lot today and will communicate with you later in the week closer to our game against Jomo Cosmos on Saturday, which is scheduled to be played in Durban on Saturday afternoon.

Amakhosi for Life

Ernst Middendorp
Kaizer Chiefs Head Coach

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

A new car: your worst investment


YOUR car is going down in value by thousands a month!

The chances are good that it dropped by 20% as you drove it off the showroom floor!

A car is the second biggest outlay most people make. It is a consumer durable, not an investment – but because it can impoverish over the long term, it could be called the worst investment.

Depreciation is the dirty word that the motor industry and the media seldom mention.

The table plots the one, two and three-year depreciation of a random sample of 23 cars. They range in price from the Nissan 1 400 at R70 000 to the Porsche Cayenne at R1,4m. The table compares the prices of these vehicles when they were new to their present trade-in value. (Click here to view the table)

The worst example, the Jeep Cherokee Laredo V8 plummeted 38% in value from R382 000 to R237 500 in a year. That was R12 000 per month.

The best, ironically, the Porsche Cayenne, fell by only 11,9%. It doesn’t sound like much in percentage terms but in rands the drop was R175 000 – R14 500 a month!

One third of the sample depreciated by more than 30% in the first year. Less than a third fell in value by less than 20%.

The depreciation over two and three years is shown in columns three and six. It is, expressed in percentage decline per annum. The table shows that depreciation in years two and three starts to level off. Many cars these days can last 20 years.

This sample represents less than 10% of the cars available on the SA market. One cannot make judgments about any particular brand - but it does confirm that depreciation, though often unseen, makes fuel costs look trivial.

According to the latest vehicle statistics released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA), more than 200 000 new cars have been sold since January.

Tony Twine, director and senior economist at Econometrix, describes the life cycle of a car: “During the first year, the value of the car decreases at a steep rate. For the next four years, the car depreciates at a more gentle, slower pace, with a further step down in value in the sixth year. Beyond this, the value of the rate of depreciation flattens out.”

Borrowing money to purchase a depreciating asset is the worst “investment” you can make. Sages say: “Buy things that appreciate and pay for the use of the things that depreciate.”

“A car is not an investment; you use it and then discard it”, says Piet Viljoen of

Regarding Capital Management (RE:CM).

He says the definition of an investment is a security of principal, with the potential of growth and this does not apply to a car, explains Viljoen.

“Each person will do what they want to maximise their own value or utility”, says Viljoen.

A new car usually involves allocating a large amount of money into a diminishing asset.

Opportunity cost must be taken into account. Deciding to buy a luxury model now can detract significantly from one’s wealth in later life.

“If a person prefers to buy a fancy car as opposed to investing a portion, they must realise they will fall behind in the wealth accumulation stakes”, adds Viljoen.

People should think more carefully about the objectives of having a car, reckons Twine.

“They are swept along by the emotion of a brand new car and don’t take into account what the car is going to be used for,” warns Twine.

Twine advises leasing if the car is to be used purely as a means of transport. “This will decrease the costs of owning the use of a car, rather than the vehicle itself”.

Up to now, leasing has been restricted to companies and professionals who use their vehicles to generate income. The new Consumer Credit Bill, which is likely to come into effect in 2007, will allow for private leasing.

After owning the car for six years, the car will be worth around 20% of its original value, excluding VAT, adds Twine. A brand new car worth R500 000 will be worth about R100 000 after six years, if you are lucky.

“To avoid the early rapid depreciation of a new vehicle, rather buy a second-hand car,” advises Twine.

Let’s look at the numbers: instead of spending R500 000 on a new car, one could buy a three-year-old model of the same type for R300 000 and invest the balance.

The cost of ownership of the new car is R400 000 during the period. Meanwhile the R300 000 car after seven years will be worth R60 000, so the depreciation cost will be R240 000. At only 4,2% a year after tax, a R200 000 money market investment would have grown over six years to R256 000. The second-hand car owner is thus ahead by R16 000 while the new car owner is down by R400 000. Had the second hand car buyer put the money into the JSE, the relative situation would have been far better.

Some makes and models depreciate faster and this all depends on market forces, says a statistician who monitors car values.

“If the market likes it, will depreciate more slowly,” he reckons.

He adds that the technology race is over and the reliability of a particular is no longer a factor. Whether a car holds its value depends more on what car the public would like to be seen in. Reputation of the brand is critical.

Lower-priced vehicles suffer less depreciation because a larger number of prospective second hand buyers can afford them, says Twine.

Twine says the rate of increase of new car prices in the future determines how fast a particular make and model will depreciate.

He maintains that “the higher car inflation is, the greater the residual value and the lower the depreciation”.

Other factors do affect the rate of depreciation, he adds. “Historically, the slowest depreciation of vehicles hangs around the 1800cc engine size, manual transmissions and diesel engines”.

Sources: recommended retail price figures from Car Magazine editions from 2003-2005. Trade values from TransUnion Mead & McGrouther Auto dealers Guide.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

New Year Resolutions : Weigh(t) Options

The slimming products industry boasts wonderful sales figures in January as the recent festive gluttony and New Year's resolutions have thousands seeking a short-cut to fat shedding.

But Cape Town dietician Maya Snijders-Naumann says the industry "sells the idea to millions of overweight people that you can solve a problem without solving it - no responsibility for your actions, no work".

Last week in a pharmacy I overheard a woman tell an assistant that she was "desperate" to lose weight and then ask whether a certain weight-loss product worked.

"Yes," the assistant replied, with certainty.

In another pharmacy I asked an assistant which product among the many on sale was the most effective and he singled out one without any hesitation.

These were sales assistants, not pharmacists, offering apparently authoritative advice to consumers who've been socialised to regard a pharmacy as a credible source of medical wisdom.

"Nobody manning a shop floor should be giving dietary advice," says Professor Tessa van der Merwe, who heads the country's first specialised centre for obesity in Pretoria, and chairs the SA Society for the Study of Obesity.

"Obesity is a medical condition, not a cosmetic issue."

For Van der Merwe, the problem is deadly serious.

"People make a huge mistake believing that 'herbal' remedies are harmless. If they take more than the recommended dose - which many do - the 'herbs' can have catastrophic interactions with drugs for high blood pressure, diabetes and cardiovascular conditions - exactly the diseases that obese people develop and are likely to be medicated for."

Many of the ingredients in weight loss products have been found to aid weight loss, Van der Merwe says, but in massive concentrations.

"In order to sell their products at a reasonable price, the manufacturers use the active ingredients in concentrations so minute as to make them totally ineffective."

And here's the really sobering news: "Of the few products that have been found to be effective for weight loss in controlled studies, the effect never lasts more than four weeks because the body becomes tolerant to the ingredients, and the greatest result of all the studies was a loss of just over 1kg."

nAmong the many products currently on sale are a number of USN (Ultimate Sports Nutrition) products which were the subject of Advertising Standards Authority rulings last November. They include:

USN Leanfast snack bar: Complainant Dr Harris Steinman said the words "leanfast" and "low calorie nutrition snack" implied that it would aid weight loss when it actually contains 1996,4kJ per 100g - almost the same as a slab of full cream chocolate.

In response, USN undertook to amend the words "low calorie" but said "Leanfast" was the name of the product and did not imply slimming or weight loss. Unsurprisingly, the ASA disagreed.

The company has until February to rid the shelves of the current Leanfast bars.

USN Phedra-Cut Stimulant-Free: Dr Steinman contended that the product's claims on its website - "burns fat for energy", "helps control carb storage", "advanced appetite control" and "increases metabolic rate" required substantiation. The company offered to change the claims.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Once upon 2007


Change with change before change changes you, forcefully. The new year is here and with it we hope that it brings wealth, health, wisdom, growth, love, peace and unity. As usual, people make resolutions they can't keep. Me not falling for that trap, again.

To all those that have seen the new year :Give Tanx!
Let's keep rocking!