Instead of honouring Lolo, we’re again left with sour taste of inflexible dogma
AND so as always, death becomes all about the living. And as always in this maddeningly frustrating country of ours, it’s about race and culture and arrogance and intolerance.
Forgotten in all of this, a young footballer has died, tragically, at the age of 27.
Cecil Lolo was buried in the village of Chebe in Centane in the Eastern Cape at the weekend. Despite everything that Ajax Cape Town have done to honour their late right back, to do justice to his memory and to recognise what he meant to the club, they have over the past few days been the target of a malicious campaign on social media and in other quarters.
The reason for the whole brouhaha is because the Ajax squad never attended Lolo’s funeral.
It’s
disrespectful,
they carped. It’s because he was black, they opined. They didn’t care about him, they added.
All of this, of course, without knowing the true situation. It was just about what people could see – the Ajax players weren’t there so that’s it, it’s racist, it’s a Cape Town thing, blah, blah…
Without going into too much detail about everything Ajax have done, the club has set up a trust for his three children, the family has been looked after, and the club paid for the funeral arrangements in the Eastern Cape.
There were two memorial services in the Mother City – one in his hometown of Khayelitsha and one at Ajax’s home in Parow. Every Ajax player was in attendance, where they mourned, came to terms with their pain, and said their final goodbyes.
Ajax named a stand after the player and they retired his number 21 jersey. During the Ajax-Orlando Pirates match, play was stopped for a handclap in the 21st minute as a tribute to Lolo, pictured.
At the funeral, the Urban Warriors was represented by coach Roger de Sa and chief executive Ari Efstathiou.
De Sa said he left at six in the morning and only arrived at the funeral at 12.30pm – that’s how arduous the journey was to reach the remote village of Chebe.
And so instead of Lolo being allowed to go gentle into the good night, instead of us remembering a top-class footballer for his extraordinary exploits on the field, we are left with nothing but the sour taste of the inflexible dogma and immature foolhardiness that pervade this country.
After doing so much to honour Lolo, it still apparently only boils down to being seen at a funeral. Really!