Former Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates striker Siyabonga Nomvethe says it would be sad if his record is beaten by a foreign player.
Nomvethe scored a record of 123 top flight goals, across his spell with Chiefs, Pirates, African Wanderers, Moroka Swallows and AmaZulu respectively.
But Mamelodi Sundowns hitman is breathing down his neck, having scored 107 goals.
Mabhuti Khenyeza, who was Bhele’s teammates at AmaZulu, is joint-second top scorer with Daniel Mudau on 110 goals. Bradley Grobler is on 104 goals.
“He (Shalulile) is coming very close,” said Nomvethe.
“But he is talented, he works hard and there is no denying that fact. He knows what is doing because our own strikers in South Africa should be the ones who are scoring the goals.
“Every time there is a foreigner that comes to our league, they do well and it tells you that our own strikers are weak. I just hope he won’t come closer to it.”
While Bhele’s record is under threat, however, he contributed so much for Bafana Bafana.
He was part of the Africa Cup of Nations side that claimed the bronze medal in the 2000, scoring in the 2-2 draw in that match against Tunisia before winning 6-5 on penalty shootouts in Ghana
During the 2002 World Cup finals in Korea and Japan – when South Africa registered their first win in what is the biggest football tournament, Bhele scored against Slovenia in the second Group B match under Jomo Sono.
Bafana started that tournament with a 2-2 draw against Paraguay and Bhele watched on the bench in that game.
With Bafana needing to beat Spain in the last game to go through to the round of 16, they lost 3-2 when Raul scored twice.
Nomvethe left AmaZulu at the end of last season as DStv Diski Challenge coach and has since opened up Siyabonga Nomvethe Foundation along with Siyabonga Nomvethe School Cup which was played by the schools in Durban and the final took placed at Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaMashu last month, in his hometown.
For Bhele, for his career to take off, it was at school at Mzuvele in KwaMashu to Wanderers and then Chiefs. He feels that is where the core talent in South Africa is at.
“Siyabonga Nomvethe School Cup is to ensure students show their talent because we may see another future Siyabonga Nomvethe here,” said Bhele.
“As you can see they were playing at Princess Magogo Stadium, it is a big motivation that some of them in future will play on this pitch because it is very rare to see students at this age play at this venue since it is used by PSL teams.”
