UNIVERSITY of Pretoria’s basketball team will begin their Varsity Basketball tournament campaign on Friday at Wits University knowing that their image has recently taken a battering. It follows the posting of messages in the social media space accusing some players, who were at some point involved with the university’s basketball team, of sexually violating women.
Accusations of this nature can be a destabilising factor within a sports team and Tuks are no different. The accusations, which appeared in the form of direct messages were posted on 3 September on Facebook basketball group Let’s Talk SA Basketball.
While the alleged incidents happened before his tenure, Tuks coach George Makena had concerns about the allegations made.
“I haven’t made any statement regarding that. If you look at some of the allegations, you start to question them. I am not trying to defend anyone. I was not there and I was not part of the team when all these things happened,” said Makena during his team’s scrimmage at the university’s Rembrandt Hall on Thursday night.
Makena, a seasoned basketball coach, pointed out that there is legal recourse for the women who made the accusations against their alleged abusers.
“Go to the nearest police station. Lay a criminal charge, so that these perpetrators can be brought to book. But it hasn’t happened so that’s why we worry that the allegations could be unfounded,” said the former Tshwane Suns coach, who believes the team is more unified.
“It actually divided the team, but we have strong leadership. We are taking care of the things we can control and what we cannot control, we leave in the hands of the almighty,” said Makena a two-time Basketball National League champion with Tshwane Suns.
Tuks assistant coach Thanda Kweyama believes the situation demoralised the team and while there is no certainty on the time frame of the alleged incidents, he intimated that, as adults, the players have a responsibility towards themselves.
“I think it killed the morale of the team. I have been with them for three years and I wasn’t aware of these things. This is on the players who were part of system previously. So, obviously by saying the Tuks basketball team you are obviously associating it with the current team. Some of these players are second year students and were not aware that these things are happening. They could have happened three years ago or even four years ago. However, it affected the team morale-wise and there was a reduced attendance at practices.
“Also, people have to be accountable for their own actions. As a coach, when you ask players and they don’t give you an answer, you don’t have much to work with. The institution will protect its own image and where players are wrong, they should be dealt with,” said Kweyama
“The most important thing they need to understand is that, they are young men. They are no longer kids in high school. There is a cause and effect for everything. So, how you drink and what you do always comes back to haunt you. So, make the best decision knowing that you wouldn’t want to be in that position. You must always take cognisance. When you always try to impress people, it might comeback to bite you. Which is what happened to a lot of these kids.”
On the playing front, Tuks take on a team that has beaten them three times this season, Vaal University of Technology (VUT), and the men from Pretoria have some injury worries to key players Ludwig Gerdes, Louis Motaung and Emmanuel Shine. Makena believes despite the challenges they face they are up for test posed by Vaal-based team.
“We are battling with injuries some players are not available, but the other players are ready to play. We played them three times this season and we lost all three games. Some things will have to come to an end, and we hoping we will do better this time around. What I have noticed is that they will be missing some key players as well. So, it will be an added advantage to do better,” said Makena.
While they are measured in their expectation in this year’s tournament, Kweyama believes the team has grown. He has also noted areas where they need to improve their game.
“I think it’s going to be a grind. Ask me after every game, ‘What do you think?’ And I‘ll tell you after every game what I think,” responded Kweyama. “I think we have grown from where we were at the beginning of the year. In the GUBL, we are bringing down leads. Twwenty-point deficits have now been reduced to single digits and it’s against Wits, UJ and VUT. We are going pretty much with the same team as last year’s.
“What will be critical is our third quarter. We compete well in the first two quarters and the fourth. But we tend to have lapses in concentration in the third. Minimize our mistakes and convert where it counts the most, which is at the free throw line.”
