Pretoria - Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has conveyed his condolences following the death of soccer player Rashid Khan.
In a statement on Saturday evening, Motlanthe said the history of South African soccer would be incomplete and “not make sense” without the contribution of people like Khan.
“In a way Rashid's life is also synonymous with our nation's history. Rashid emerged at the height of oppressive political conditions to put his stamp on the history of our football through his incredible footballing prowess. Even though the political overlords through racist laws managed to force him out of the non-racial Orlando, along with Bernard Hartze, Hans Moses and Ralph Hendricks, he persisted to make a contribution to the development of football in our nation,” said the deputy president.
Today South Africa enjoys football in a free and democratic country where players are well-paid and infrastructure is taken for granted.
“It is equally easy to forget that without the impact of South Africans such as Rashid at a time when playing football was part athletics and part sacrifice; our football could have turned out worse. Instead his generation made the masses of poor soccer lovers happy.
"Football has been one of the uniting social forces in our history. We thank Rashid and his generation for giving us the delights on football as well as non-racial sport,” said Motlanthe. - SAnews.gov.za
