They don't have that winning mentality

For many South African football fans, the name Manti Moholo—now known as Manti Mekoa—evokes memories of a fearless, hard-tackling midfielder who gave his all for clubs like Orlando Pirates, Free State Stars, Chippa United and Cape Umoya United. Yet, since hanging up his boots, the former midfield general has taken an unexpected path away from the game that once defined him. In this rare and candid interview with Soccer Laduma’s Delmain Faver, Manti opens up about why he deliberately distanced himself from football, his disillusionment with the way the sport is run, and his rediscovered purpose in business. Still, the love for the game never truly leaves; he remains an avid follower of the Betway Premiership and offers sharp insight into Orlando Pirates’ midfield, Mamelodi Sundowns’ dominance, and the mentality gap he believes exists in modern players.

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DF: A lot of your former teammates like Mpho Makola have now gone into coaching. Was there ever a part of you that considered it or did you know straight away that you would be doing things outside of football?

MM: Well, I knew that I was going to do something aside from football because before football, I was in business. I always wanted to be in the business space. Unfortunately, football was a calling, and I had to pursue it. It’s something that I love as well. In my family, my uncles played the sport as well, so I had to be the first one to make it to the top. I had to follow the dream as well. But coming from a family involved in business and sports, I wanted to be in business, hence I decided that after my football career, I would focus solely on business.

DF: You are not the first person we've spoken to who says they haven’t fallen out of love with football. But some of the things that happen around football make them want to move away from it completely, to the point where you don’t want to touch it at all. It’s a sad thing because like you're saying, it’s a calling. So you move away from something that is a calling because of how bad the stuff that goes on in football is, which makes you not want to be close to football anymore?