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Bafana Bafana legend Doctor Khumalo was up there with the global superstars of the game, according to Lucas Radebe.
Khumalo divides opinion in the current generation, perhaps of those who weren’t able to see him in his peak or at all.
But what’s clear, as of today, he still holds a superstar status after more than two decades after hanging up his boots.
“Doctor Khumalo was as good as people like Romario of Brazil, as good as people like…,” Radebe said to iDiski Times before I posed the question of Jay Jay Okocha.
‘Yeh, yeh, yeh, I mean, actually I’m looking even higher than that. You know, people are not even, I’m not talking about the skill.
“I’m just thinking about what he did, the impact, the impact that he made in football first. And because of these skills, that’s why he had that kind of impact.
“He was absolutely amazing. I mean, who doesn’t know Doctor Khumalo? Even the kids [today know him].”
There are only a select few in the local game that transcend beyond the footballer status, they become a celebrity, and they define an era of their sport or culture in their country but Radebe says it’s something even more.
“We have to look beyond that. You know, because at the end of the day, if everybody looks at you on the street and says ‘That’s Doctor Khumalo’, and even Doctor himself.
“Do you know what I mean? You have to look beyond that. Yes, it’s okay, when they look at you, because everybody, they see me, they see him on TV [but to be that known by everyone today says something of his legendary status].”
The Kaizer Chiefs icon was part of the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations winning squad and helped Bafana Bafana qualify for their first-ever FIFA World Cup in 1998.