Mabhuti Khenyeza relishes the clash against his mentor, Cavin Johnson

By Velile Mnyandu
28th October 2023

As Kaizer Chiefs' newly appointed interim coach Cavin Johnson heads into his first game in charge standing in his way will be his former assistant coach and player Mabhuti Khenyeza, who is now calling the shots at Lamontville Golden Arrows.

The two teams clash in a Dstv Premiership game at the Mpumalanga stadium in Hammersdale just outside Durban this afternoon (15:30).

READ: Lucas Radebe on latest Kaizer Chiefs changes – ‘I am not sure anymore’

Khenyeza started his journey in coaching as Johnson’s assistant at AmaZulu early in 2019 and he’s got a lot of respect for him, but that’s where it ends.

"The last time he coached was when I was still at AmaZulu, good coach, he likes to play football, and play open games which is good. I played under him at AmaZulu. I respect him a lot but he's a coach for Kaizer Chiefs and I'm a coach for Golden Arrows. We'll always pay that respect but respect is respect but it doesn't mean that he needs to get special attention or special treatment," Khenyeza said.

Johnson, who was initially appointed as the Head of Youth Development at Chiefs just over a month ago, was brought in as more of a firefighter this week at Amakhosi following the departure of Molefi Ntseki, who parted ways with the club following a string of poor results.

Chiefs are currently sitting on the eighth spot on the log with only 11 points from a possible 27 (nine matches), just six points behind Arrows who have a game in hand and occupy the third spot.

But Khenyeza is not reading too much about Chiefs’ problems.

"I'm not sure, there's a new technical team but the most important thing, I'm only worried about our preparation towards the game because Arrows is more important than the Chiefs technical team or Chiefs team. My focus is Golden Arrows," Khenyeza added.

All eyes will also be on the community of Hammersdale as they will be hosting this big game featuring Chiefs for the first time in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) era. Abafana Besthende are using the Mpumalanga stadium as their main venue this season and Khenyeza, a former Chiefs striker, expects the local community to rally behind the team.

"I think they've been supporting us in these last three games. The three games we played at home but we know it will be packed because some are supporting Chiefs. They only come there just to hang but it's good for the community again. For our players to get the support, the atmosphere, everything. We always say that if you are a big player you need to perform under those situations, under that atmosphere."