Zwane Reflects On Traumatic Chiefs Stint, Finds Revival At AmaZulu
AmaZulu coach Arthur Zwane has spoken about the traumatic experience he endured as Kaizer Chiefs coach, including being pelted with missiles and requiring police escorts at matches. He revealed that his children struggled to cope at school due to the challenges he was facing.
However, these difficulties did not deter Zwane, who always believed in his capabilities to succeed despite his tumultuous spell with the Soweto Giants. Zwane, one of Chiefs’ most successful former players, appears to be a revitalized man at AmaZulu.
He took over the coaching reins at AmaZulu in October with Vusi Vilakazi, replacing Spanish coach Pablo Franco Martin after the team had lost their opening three matches. At that point, Usuthu was languishing at the bottom of the table.
Since then, Zwane has overseen a tremendous improvement at Usuthu, who now sit sixth in the Betway Premiership table with 34 points after 27 matches.
In contrast, his former club, Chiefs—who he led to a top-five finish in the 2022/23 season despite not being fully embraced by fans and failing to finish in the top eight last term—is now battling to secure a top-eight spot.
There’s a significant chance Chiefs might miss out on the top eight for the second successive season if they fail to beat Polokwane City on Saturday in their final game.
Conversely, Usuthu needs to defeat second-placed Orlando Pirates at the Moses Mabhida Stadium for the first time at that venue to almost assure themselves of a top-eight finish. Notably, Usuthu last defeated Pirates in a league match in Durban in 2009, when the game was played at Chatsworth Stadium under coach Neil Tovey.
“I have always believed in myself as a coach,” said Zwane. “I always believed that whatever happened, happened for a reason. You know, when I look at my coaching career, even when I was a player, it is like a movie.
“I’m still watching a movie because, as a player, I have been through a lot, I have been through the most. I have experienced many things that I think many other players, if they were in my shoes, they wouldn’t come back. Some of us, our journeys are always going to be difficult.”
Mangethe, as Zwane is also known, won two league titles with Chiefs, including the 2004/05 season where he was one of the team’s best players under the late Ted Dumitru.
“I see my journey as a football player and my coaching career as similar,” continued Zwane. “Look at how I started as a player: I started at Jomo Cosmos, went overseas, came back, and found myself in the second division, fighting to revive my career again.
“Then, back to the national team, then Kaizer Chiefs. I then had a longest career as a player that I’m proud of. I see the same in my coaching career, the difficulties that I have endured, things that other people, I don’t think they would survive, they would come back like I’m trying right now from the situation that I have been in.
“I’m dealing with my kids that couldn’t cope at school because of everything that was happening where I was. I see it as a blessing, rather than being punished. I had to be in that situation in order for me to be where I am right now. I would like to thank the management of AmaZulu, the president [Sandile Zungu] in particular, for giving me this lifeline, the opportunity to revive my career.
“It is all up to me; it is in my hands now to take this to another level. Not that I want to prove a point to other people, I’m not here to prove a point, I’m just doing my job. It is as simple as that. I chose to be a coach, and since I chose to be a coach, I’m going to behave like a coach. I have to give everything, to the best of my ability, to succeed.”
