Players’ union lauds Ngcongca for his fight against racism in football

Ngcongca died in a car crash on the N2 near Mtunzini in KwaZulu-Natal on Monday morning. 

Ngcongca, who earned 53 caps for Bafana Bafana, enjoyed nine seasons at Belgium club Genk before returning home to play for the Brazilians.   

SAFPU President Gaoshubelwe Thulaganyo says Ngcongca stood firm against racism in Belgium.  

“Let us take a moment and say who is this Anele that we’re talking about, Anele was playing in Belgium and when he left in 2016, he was never quiet but raising issue affecting a lot Africans or black child in Europe. 

“He spoke openly about issues of racism, to say the reason he left was because of racism.”  

Thulaganyo says the defender also encouraged players to put money away for life after football. 

“Importantly for us, just recently now in June, Anele raised an important aspect of saving and he challenged his teammates, he challenged co-workers or co-footballers to say ‘guys, we really need to save’.

“He was challenging the status of the system to say something can be done and why can’t we ensure that every month there are money taken from the player’s salary and they save in a form of a provident fund.”

He was due to have been unveiled as an AmaZulu player this week.