The Kaizer Chiefs Chairman, Kaizer Motaung has kept his promise to reengineer the development structures of the Club. The first was to withdraw the team from participating in the recent Nike Tournament held in Soweto, owing to age-cheating allegations.

In order to ensure that the development function is a fully-fledged Development capable of sustaining itself, Thebe Mohatle previously in charge of Communications at the Club will join the Development to manage the Education and Life Skills Programme. Thebe will join the recently appointed, Walter Steenbok who has been entrusted with a responsibility of heading the Club’s Development hub.

Walter brings to the Development a wealth of experience having worked for the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture in the Northern Cape. He has also done extensive work in youth development in that province where he was Chief selector and scout.

“You can call me a scholar of youth football,” says the soft speaking Walter Steenbok who discovered the current Kaizer Chiefs midfielder, Renielwe Letsholonyane in Soweto.

“Currently together with Doctor Khumalo (Kaizer Chiefs under-17 coach) we are busy doing SAFA Level II Coaching Certificates. I am also in a process of finishing my SAFA Coaching License. I have keen interest in modern trends of football, coaching, scouting and match analysis on youth teams. I do a lot of research on top academies in the world, AS Monaco in France, Flamingo in Brazil and Bayern Munich in Germany. Joining Chiefs is a progression on what I have been doing for the better part of my life. This opportunity also allows me to take all that I have learnt and apply it in a practical environment” he says.

“I am excited to be here and I am looking forward working with other guys like Thebe who will be in charge of education aspect of the Development side, Lucky (Stalliano) who will be in charge of the technical aspect and Abdulla Mayet who is our Facilities Manager. During my time in government I worked very closely with SAFA, schools at this level. My latest project before joining Kaizer Chiefs was sending our under-16 boys to represent Sol Plaatjie to the Gothia Cup where there will be 1572 youth teams from 66 nations around the world. I am hoping that the club will grant me leave to be able to attend the event” he adds.

Equally excited to be joining Kaizer Chiefs development is Mohatle. He reveals to Kaizerchiefs.com that his initial contact with Kaizer Chiefs was to present a paper on development. “Long before I joined the Club as Communications Manager I had tried for a long time to secure an opportunity to make a presentation to the Club about how they can make the development function a fully-fledged Academy. I am excited now to be working with the young boys. This responsibility draws from my strength as a teacher. In me lies a teacher at heart” he says.

“The Development houses boys from the ages between 13-18. These boys are all going to school. The system of education is South Africa is structured in a way that when the boy reaches 18 he should be out of the Development and have passed Grade 12. This education aspect of Development becomes key to the process of engineering the boys personal growth.

My move to the Development also feeds to the Chairman’s vision to ensure that the development structures of the club are revamped. The core business of the Development will remain developing players for the first team but then it is also important that we develop citizens that are able to make a contribution in this country within and beyond football. I will continue through my office to work with the supporters on issues that relate to skills development and capacity building,” he adds.

Walter says his first assignment will be to assess the work that has been done in the Academy, “what has worked and what has not and make my recommendations”.