Banyana Banyana head coach Desiree Ellis has remembered the late SABC Sport football analyst and journalist David Kekana for playing a pivotal role in helping her to settle as a football TV analyst on Laduma.
Kekana lost his prolonged battle with diabetes on Sunday. He passed away at the Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg at the age of 47.
Ellis worked with Kekana as an analyst at SABC Sport and says she has some fond memories of him in front of the camera.
Kekana, who also worked at Sunday Times had also gotten close to coverage of women in sports activities and development especially after he started working as part of the Sport at 10 production team on SABC 1.
Ellis says she would always count on Kekana:
Meanwhile, Ellis expects Banyana’s second round, first leg Olympic qualifier against Botswana in Gaborone on Friday to be a fiercely contested game.
The South African senior women’s national team got a bye in the first round and Ellis says a win on the road will put Banyana in a good position.
The unimpressive performances of the African women’s teams at the Olympics has seen the organisers reducing the number of slots allocated to Africa from two teams to one and a half.
This simply means that there will be five rounds of play including a final where the runners-up will face Chile from South America in the play-off game. Ellis looks at the impact of these changes.
The second leg is scheduled for Dobsonville stadium next Tuesday and the winner of this tie will come up against the winner of Zambia and Zimbabwe in the third round at the end of next month.
Refiloe Jane will continue to captain Banyana in the absence of the injured skipper Janine Van Wyk and she’s emphasised the need to forget the previous results and take one game at a time. – Report by Velile Mnyandu
WATCH: David Kekana memorial and funeral service
