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Tadious Manyepo
The year is 2008, and Khama Billiat’s future is looking bleak, at least according to him.
He has played football all his life, and the world’s most beautiful game is the only thing that he knows best.
But there is no interest for his services whatsoever.
Maybe he is not good enough or he is deemed too tiny to be competitive.
He is hurt and desperate.
In his neighbourhood, Mufakose, it is survival of the fittest, and he has little options at his disposal.
Billiat cannot afford to be a regular at the training sessions conducted by the Aces Youth Soccer Academy (AYSA), which has sheltered and nurtured him.
Bus fare is also hard to come by.
Then he decides to slow down and eventually leave the game.
“So, in 2008 or thereabout, I just decided to stop playing football. Things were not well on my side and I started ‘burning’ music on memory cards.
“I did that for a year or so. I had to make things happen,” said Billiat in a recent interview on the sidelines of a send-off dinner for Jadel Football Academy players.
“Things were tight and I had to do that. I had sort of surrendered the game altogether. So, I was learning other things and that’s what I did.”
Billiat said experiencing the other side of life helped shape him in a big way before he made a rebound that would lead him into stardom.
“I then joined CAPS United when I made my way back. This is the club that made me who I am. I have so much respect for CAPS United and their coach Lloyd Chitembwe.
“The club, its president Farai Jere and coach Chitembwe shaped me. This is the club that I will always mention as a big part of me. They showed me the way.
“Imagine, I was into the ghetto hustle that I have mentioned, but they believed in me. Let me also say that what I experienced during the time I had walked out of football helped mould me into a focused human being.
“Imagine, I was doing that (burning music) for the first time, yet all I had known in my life was playing football. In a way, that exposed me to have a look at the other side of life and it really shaped me.”
Billiat did not last long at Makepekepe.
In a team that had stars like Tafadzwa Rusike, who had just been unearthed two years earlier; Nyasha Mushekwi, a powerful basketball star who turned into a goal machine at CAPS United; Gilbert Mapemba; Method Mwanjali; and George Karimupfumbi, Billiat was a bench-warmer.
But Chitembwe, with a sharp eye for talent, believed in him.
“I always saw something special in him. His technique was distinct and you know how it is. We needed to polish other aspects and I am happy he was a disciplined boy who was always willing to learn,” said Chitembwe.
“He was showing a lot of hunger and he was very disciplined. His work ethic was telling and I wasn’t surprised by how he climbed the ladder to Mamelodi Sundowns and later Kaizer Chiefs.”
The man who identified Billiat, Expense Chitukutuku, said it was difficult right from the first days to convince the star that he would play at the highest level.
“He was very short and slim and everyone thought he couldn’t make it, including himself, but I kept on going to his place to bring him with me to our (AYSA) training ground at Lord Malvern School,” he said.
“He started to avoid me as he had given up. I made him believe he would play in Europe and it took time for him to believe until we went to Switzerland for a tournament in Geneva and he scored in every match and we won the tournament in 2005.
“They were selected to return to Switzerland to join Young Boys — Abbas Amidu, Lincoln Zvasiya and him. They went for trials in Switzerland and they impressed, made the grade, but unfortunately the deal didn’t go well.
“When he decided to quit football, it pained me a lot. I then had to take him from his father’s place and I stayed with him at my place in Budiriro. The rest is history.”
After impressing at Makepekepae, Billiat was then signed by South African side Ajax Cape Town.
He almost won the league title with Ajax Cape Town, but they faltered at the very last day when allowing Orlando Pirates to pip them to the finish line, about two years after Billiat had joined.
Billiat would sparkle and be signed by mega-rich Mamelodi Sundowns, whom he helped win several accolades, including the CAF Champions League in 2016.
That came along with hordes of individual awards too.
He then joined Kaizer Chiefs, becoming the highest-paid player in South Africa before he made a return to the domestic league with Yadah this season.
Billiat is doing well and has added another impetus to the local league, with his skills and goals thrilling fans.
He has scored nine goals, just one shy of the leading pair of William Manondo (CAPS United) and Simba Bhora’s Tymon Machope.
Online Reporter