13 Jun 2018

When we arrived at his house, Malepa ‘Chippa’ Bolelang had just arrived from work at Botswana Meat Commission (BMC).

The once prolific goal-poacher, just like many footballers in Botswana, has a day-to-day job and juggled it with his football career playing for Francistown City Greens, formerly ECCO City Greens. “I just came home from a night shift. From 7pm until the morning and I am normally home by 9am at most to rest,” he said calmly like any other normal working Motswana.

Two gentlemen are with him in his living room watching football on television and they are all laughing and having a good time.

Everything seems normal for Bolelang, safe for a rather disturbing physical change in this former Zebras top striker, who was called all sorts of nicknames such as King Goals. This is a man, who some four months ago, on his birthday on the 25th of February, was hit by a car and the resulting injuries led to his right leg being amputated, confining him to a life of walking on crutches.

When he speaks, nothing seems different, as he is more of the same player who used to terrorise many defenders during his heydays at the then ECCO City Greens and the senior national team, the Zebras.

At the time of the accident, he had hung his boots and retired to the technical bench of the Debswana First Division North (FDN) outfit, Francistown City Greens. “I have accepted myself and my life has never been the same. It was

God’s plan and I could not have avoided what happened to me even if I tried. I am still the same guy, same character and same friends and family, but now walk on crutches and cannot play football anymore. I live life to the fullest everyday,” he said.

The strength to accept his unfortunate physical condition came mostly from the love and support that Batswana have showered him.

That love, he said, still resonates in him up to today and carries him through whenever he feels down.

“Batswana generally love people by nature, but what they did for me was nothing short of extraordinary. Every day while I was hospitalised, my visitor log was always flowing with people from across the country wanting to see me, and it was chaotic at most times with Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital forced to turn some people away without seeing me,” he noted with a smile. Bolelang met many people who encouraged him and received many calls that at times he did not know what to do with his phone with hundreds of text messages of goodwill coming from people even unknown to him, which he said humbled him.

He does have challenges and needs, but noted that the love he has been getting from Batswana took away his worries. To lend a hand of support, many activities have been organised in his honour as in March, there was the Malepa Bolelang Challenge tournament at his home village of Moshopha in Tswapong.

“People will always have different opinions of people living with disability, but when such a person becomes confident in themselves and live life to the fullest, people end up embracing them and they live together in harmony,” he concluded. Ends