How The Ghost have kept Orlando Pirates alive

The eclectic mix of football lovers, adorned in a spectrum of colours that is synonymous with South African followers, that gathered to celebrate a supporter club’s anniversary achievement accentuates how The Ghost — as Orlando Pirates fans are affectionately called — have kept the club alive for 85 years.

Football supporter branches – mainly situated in townships, where a majority of the working class lovers of the local sport reside – have a storied history of being conduits for community development in areas that were earmarked for repression by the apartheid regime. 

Pirates was founded in 1937 in Soweto and survived the apartheid system, which was labelled a crime against humanity by the United Nations, to bring hope and joy during an era that was a sea of despair. 

Orlando Stadium, which is situated in Soweto and is known as the spiritual home of South African football, is Pirates’ home stadium. 

Although it has been another barren year for the Sea Robbers, who have not won a trophy since its December 2020 triumph at Durban’s empty Moses Mabhida Stadium against Bloemfontein Celtics in the MTN 8 Cup, its supporters still gladly fork out their hard-earned income to buy merchandise and travel to stadiums to back their favourite club.

Despite the side’s struggles, including what the supporters feel is their growing alienation from the club’s head office, Orlando Pirates’ working class fanbase still fundraised R35 000 among themselves for a weekend-long celebration of how their love of a sports team had birthed a countrywide communal and united spirit. 

Prior to its December 2020 cup triumph, Pirates had gone more than six years without any domestic honours following their Nedbank Cup win in May 2014, at the same Moses Mabhida Stadium.

From 2013 to date, the Buccaneers have suffered the ignominy of losing three continental cup finals, which included last month’s heartbreaking defeat – via the proverbial lottery of a penalty shootout – against Morocco’s RS Berkane in the final of the Confederation of African Football‘s Confederation Cup.

Arriving in Katlehong township in Gauteng over the Workers’ Day long weekend last month for the fifth anniversary event of the Hlahatsi-Katlehong Supporters’ Branch (HKB), one would be forgiven for thinking that Orlando Pirates was a multi-year championship team, such was the tangible joy that permeated the air during the weekend-long festivities. 

Hlahatsi is a section of Katlehong where HKB, which now has more than 150 members, was born. More than 10 branches from Gauteng and the Free State also attended the five-year celebration. 

HKB launched in April 2017 after a three-year process of recruiting the more than 100 members that is required for a branch to be in good standing, as well as saving up the R50 000 the supporters needed to do an official launch event. 

Football breeds unity

When a Pirates branch is launched and recognised by the club’s headquarters, members from the province’s supporters’ club, as well those from neighbouring provinces who can afford the trip, gather to welcome the new family member. 

In Ekurhuleni, what is known as the East Rand region, there are 22 branches across the metropolitan area. 

Tebogo Seele, HKB’s founding chairperson, said the reason for the branch’s formation followed the realisation that football was a catalyst of forging unity among the sport’s lovers, as well as the small community development programmes, such as youth football tournaments and the adoption of a local early childhood development centre, that arose from going to stadiums. 

Seele, 45, said the realisation came in early 2014 when between 20 to 30 people attended weekly home and away football matches, using private vehicles and the 10-seater Toyota Venture belonging to Lehlohonolo Mahlabokgwane, HKB’s founding branch secretary. 

“We wanted to see unity among The Ghost, but realised that the community loved what we were doing, the togetherness of attending games whether the team won or lost, and we saw that as an opportunity to do positive things in our area because there are many problems that we have to contend with,” explained Seele, who stepped down as HKB chairperson in 2019. 

“Where I believe we have failed as a branch is to assist our community’s young people because the youth are in trouble – they are unemployed and are abusing substances like [the drug] nyaope to deal with their problems. 

“So projects such as football branches are able to uplift our children because it keeps them busy and gives them a reason to be positive,” Seele added. 

‘Supporters are alienated’

There is, however, a growing discontent among Pirates supporters at the alleged alienation they said they endure from the club’s Johannesburg headquarters, with fans adding that there is a growing rift between them and the club’s management. 

The main source of strife among fans is the club’s discontinuation of the membership cards, which incentivised branch-affiliated supporters with discounted home-game ticket prices, or even free entry for platinum-status members. 

Dejan Miladinovic, who immigrated from Serbia in 1992 aged 21, is one of Pirates’ most well-known followers. 

He is known for his more than 20 years of supporting the club, recognisable with his trademark black and white head wraps, and being the only white person among a group of his fellow black supporters, who are renowned for cheering the team from behind the southern goalposts at Orlando Stadium.  

Miladinovic expressed disappointment at the discontinuation of the membership cards, asserting that “nothing is being done for the supporters”, and adding that it was difficult for branch members to engage the club’s management, whom he said were aloof to the fans’ cries. 

“We are alienated as supporters of Orlando Pirates. It is a little bit strange because we could help with organising more branches around the country because the supporters know us and we can help bring the fans back to the stadium,” Miladinovic said. 

He was recruited to be a loyal supporter of the black-and-whites by the late Johannes “Mzion” Mofokeng, dubbed Pirates’ “number one supporter”, following a July 2000 cup quarterfinal game that Pirates won at Vosloorus Stadium in Ekurhuleni. 

Miladinovic said it pained him that, after all these years of being a Ghost, supporters were still being “sent from pillar to post” by the club’s head office. Supporters were willing to work for their team, he said, adding that it was “a pity” Pirates did not reciprocate. 

On 10 June, Mail & Guardian sent Orlando Pirates’ media officer Thandi Merafe a detailed media request, asking for comment on the club’s relationship with its fans. Merafe only responded, in a short text message, on 15 June to say that she was on leave. 

She did not answer the media query, nor did she refer M&G to someone who would. 

The feeling of detachment of supporters from the club was echoed by Hope “Skhulu” Mgoduka, the current chairperson of HKB. 

Mgoduka said the benefits accrued to supporters now “were in the form of marketing ploys”, when the club’s sponsors run competitions, usually on social media sites, to punt their new products. 

“Currently, we as members of Pirates are not seen as supporters anymore, we are viewed as consumers. Someone from the head office had promised to come and grace our five-year anniversary. 

“But, at the last minute, the person said they would not come without providing any reasons. That is what we deal with as supporters,” Mgoduka said. 

Nevertheless, Mgoduka stressed that, as a branch chairperson working with the East Rand region, he would continue trying to grow and promote the branch membership, contending that organisations such as these were important for positivity within townships. 

Mgoduka – who used to support Kaizer Chiefs, Pirates’ biggest rivals – laughs when he speaks about being known as a “rabela”, which is a borrowed term from the word “rebel”, denoting a fan who stops supporting one football team for another. 

“When I was a Kaizer Chiefs fan, I was an unstructured supporter in that I did not belong to a branch. But when the branch’s formation was in its infancy and I was deployed by the community to assist in gathering information, I got to see how beautiful branch membership was and really enjoyed going to the stadium. 

“Being elected as branch chairperson in 2019 was a democratic process and I was deeply humbled when the members nominated and elected me, especially considering how I came from enemy territory,” Mgoduka said with a hearty laugh. 

The golden oldie

Dikeledi Mogajane, who turns 77 in November and is an eminent Katlehong resident, opened up her home as HKB’s official clubhouse where meetings and events are hosted, saying she did this out of love and a need to “remain young”. 

She is the branch’s oldest member. 

Mogajane, who runs a licensed liquor business from her house, said she began supporting Pirates when she was 18 years old and, with a glint in her eye, added that she was fortunate that her late husband was also an avid Buccaneer. 

“My husband and I used to go to Orlando Stadium back when people could still rush onto the field and celebrate with the players when a goal was scored or the team had won,” Mogajane recalled fondly. 

“That is why it was easy for me to avail my home and shop space for the local branch, because I’m much older than my members, but they keep me young and alive. I usually find a quiet corner during the packed events that we host here to think: ‘One day when I pass away, these children will bury me with dignity.’

“This is not only about supporting a football team; it is about uniting our township communities to fight the troubles that we face together,” Mogajane said.

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