Bafana Bafana star ‘could have been the next AB de Villiers’

Bafana Bafana star ‘could have been the next AB de Villiers’

The mother of Bafana Bafana defender Grant Kekana has revealed that her son had great cricketing potential as well as his football talent.

Kekana’s mother Pinky is a prominent member of the ANC and former cabinet member.

The next AB de Villiers

She also raised the Bafana star as a single mother.

Pinky revealed in a recent interview that she changed her son’s school to enable him to play cricket.

She feels that her son had the talent to be the next AB de Villiers.

“Look, raising a boy child alone is not easy as a single mother and being a geography teacher at the time, I had Grant (Kekana) to raise,” Pinky Kekana stated in an interview with SAFM.

“He isn’t afraid to say my mom was the first to buy me soccer boots and the other thing is, I thought he was going to be a cricket player and the best cricket player because I took him to Potchefstroom High from Polokwane and felt he was going to be our next AB de Villiers.”

She would then shift schools again as it became apparent that Kekana was a footballer of some repute.

“Remember AB comes from Bela-Bela as well so I thought he was going to be the next AB. But then he said to me, ‘Mama, I’m in the wrong school please take me to a soccer school’.”

Change of heart

As Kekana gained attention for his talents he was given an opportunity by Steve Barker, then at Amatuks but it was clear no favour.

“Thanks to Ria Ledwaba and Pat Malabela because these two helped me to arrive at the High-Performance Centre and thanks to Steve Barker because at the time, I was the Mayor of Tshwane and Steve said to me; ‘Pinky, your son must perform on the pitch, I’m not going to use the fact that you are a mayor or whatever, he must be equal to the task’.

“But knowing I raised an athlete; I had no doubts he will meet the standards and he has done just that.”