When Chiefs took on Pirates in the ABSA Cup on May 20th it was a bit of Madiba magic which proved decisive for The Amakhosi in gaining victory over their arch rivals, as the former president telephoned Chiefs prior to the game to wish them luck.

On Friday afternoon it got better for The Amakhosi as they were invited by the former State president who celebrated his 88th birthday this past week, to his home in the Johannesburg suburb of Houghton. Mr. Mandela played host to Chiefs for more than an hour before leaving to attend a belated birthday party at the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund head quarters in Rosebank where a number of kids wished the celebrated statesman a happy delayed birthday.

During his time with Chiefs Mr. Mandela wished them luck for the Vodacom Challenge Final against Manchester United on Saturday in addition he also gave them a number of encouraging messages saying “to me whatever sport it may be if the person or team is representing the nation than I am a supporter of that person”.

He also joked with the players and commented to the gathered media that “Kaizer Motaung is the most popular man in the country, I am honoured that he came to visit me and I am further honoured to know that Bobby Motaung remembered me from our last meeting”.

The latter comment drawing rapturous laughter from the entire team including club chairman Kaizer Motaung, who had just assisted Mr. Mandela to take a seat in his luscious garden.

The former State President, who met with Manchester United on Wednesday morning, gave The Amakhosi a few words of advice ahead of their second game against the Premiership giants in five days.

When he said “remember that whenever you play against teams that are better than you it does not matter whether you win or not, if playing them helps you to get better and better than you can call yourself a winner”.

Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp commenting after meeting with Mr. Mandela added the following

“from wherever one finds inspiration for your team you use it for good measure, for such a legendary person to take time off to meet with us goes along way to show that he possess a lot of humbleness and humility.

When we take on Manchester United on Saturday we will do so knowing that we have his support and we would not want to let him or the nation down”.

Before parting company with him, Mr. Mandela afforded each member of the Kaizer Chiefs entourage a personal audience for a few moments; thereafter Chiefs gave Mr. Mandela a number of gifts which included a jersey and a club pennant.

Mr. Mandela came out to meet the team wearing a blue Kaizer Chiefs T-Shirt with the clubs famous Chiefs head symbol emblazoned on the front.