- South African Football Players Union (SAFPU) has paid tribute to defender Anele Ngcongca who died in a car accident on Monday.
- SAFPU hailed Ngcongca as a man of his word and as a person who raised awareness for the betterment of the football fraternity.
- The player's union also said that action needed to be taken to curb the alarming trend of players dying on SA roads.
The South African Football Players Union (SAFPU) on Monday paid tribute to former Bafana Bafana and Mamelodi Sundowns defender Anele Ngcongca who passed away after being involved in a car accident.
The 33-year-old died in a car accident in KwaZulu-Natal in the early hours of Monday morning.
Sport24 learned that Ngcongca was in a car being driven by a female companion, understood to be his agent, on the N2 and that he succumbed to his injuries after being flung from the vehicle.
SAFPU president Thulaganyo Gaoshubelwe paid tribute to Ngcongca who he said was a man of his word and who spoke out on important issues in the football fraternity.
"It's a sad day indeed, we know that one death is one too many," Gaoshubelwe told Sport24.
"Importantly, it's especially sad when you lose a young player who we were looking forward to working with and who we know the kind of person he is.
"With Anele we know that he is a man of his word, we know that when he left Genk he raised the issue of racism.
"Also again in June this year he raised another issue that's important [regarding players being financially diligent] to say as players we need to save for our futures.
"Saying that so when we are not there our families are taken care of, it's like it was a prophetic statement because Anele said that 'when I retire I don't have to worry because I saved throughout my playing days and my family will be taken care of'.
"So I think that this is the legacy of Anele where we raise awareness of these issues where players need to save while they are playing.
Gaoshubelwe also added that action needed to be taken now to curb similar tragic incidents occurring after an alarmingly high number of footballers have succumbed to accidents on South African roads.
"We're raising this point because it is important and without suggesting anything, with our program of advanced driving courses we can educate players.
"Players will then be able to know not to get on the roads when they are tired or when they have one or two drinks or when they don't really know the status of the cars they are driving.
"We don't know the circumstances of this incident but we need to say that it is worrying that yet another footballer from our fraternity has passed on from a car accident.
"We as SAFPU are not really happy and we need to ensure that something is done, be it educating players on the dangers of the road while under the influence.
"We need to ask, what are the life skills? What are we doing to ensure that we help them? We're not saying that we will stop all these things but we can help.
"All stakeholders including us, the media and clubs need to raise awareness on this very important issue and appeal especially to younger players.
SAFPU also paid further tribute to Ngcongca on his passing and share its condolences to his family.
"We're very happy for the contribution to South African football that Anele has made and for the professionalism that he has shown.
"Importantly we pass our condolences to the family of Anele and say may his soul rest in peace and we will do everything in our power to assist his family as well."