Emmanuel Asanda "Scara" Ngobese (3 June 1980 – 11 May 2010) was a South African

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who last played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Kaizer Chiefs FC Kaizer Chiefs Football Club (often known as Chiefs) is a South African professional football club based in Naturena, Johannesburg South, that plays in the Premiership. The team is nicknamed ''AmaKhosi'', which means "Kings" or "Chiefs" in Zu ...

in the

Premier Soccer League The Premier Soccer League (PSL) is the administrative body for professional soccer leagues and cups in South Africa. It is based in Johannesburg, and was founded in 1996 following an agreement between the National Soccer League and the remnant ...

. He was born in

Katlehong Katlehong is a large township in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. It is 28 km south-east of Johannesburg and south of Germiston between two other townships of Thokoza and Vosloorus next to the N3 highway. It forms part of the City of E ...

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

and died in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. Ngobese was affectionately known to his supporters as "Scara" or "The Black Jesus" . He was managed by Edgar O.

Career

He started off at Kaizer Chiefs' development team (1994-1998), and then played for United FC,

Thanda Royal Zulu Thanda Royal Zulu was a South African football club based in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal. History The club started after a Swedish consortium that included Sven-Goran Eriksson bought the franchise from Benoni Premier United at the end of the 2 ...

Kaizer Chiefs Kaizer Chiefs Football Club (often known as Chiefs) is a South African professional football club based in Naturena, Johannesburg South, that plays in the Premiership. The team is nicknamed ''AmaKhosi'', which means "Kings" or "Chiefs" in Zu ...

, Zulu Royals,

Tembisa Classic Durban City are a South African soccer club based in the city of Durban. Prior to the start of the 2024–25 National First Division, they were called Maritzburg United, and were based in the city of Pietermaritzburg. They were promoted to th ...

, Hellenic and

Moroka Swallows Moroka Swallows Football Club (often referred to as Swallows or The Birds) is a South African professional football club based in Soweto, Johannesburg, in the Gauteng province. Founded in 1947, Swallows are one of the original two Soweto clubs ...

during his career. It was at Kaizer Chiefs where he was at his prime from 2003 to 2005. Their last league game in the 2004/2005

PSL PSL may refer to: Sport *Pakistan Super League, a Twenty20 cricket league *Palau Soccer League, top division association football league in Palau *Pilipinas Super League, a professional basketball league *Philippine Super Liga, a defunct profes ...

season where they lifted the league cup will always be remembered as his last best game of his whole career. His career took a downfall when the late

Ted Dumitru Theodore "Ted" Dumitru (born Dumitru Teodorescu; 2 September 1939 – 26 May 2016) was a Romanian football manager who is best known for his time in South Africa. Dumitru was one of few coaches who have led South Africa's 'big three' clubs ...

left the team after he had been his coach and winning the Premier league twice accompanied by a few domestic trophies with him in the past 2 years. After Dumitru's departure, Chiefs hired the German coach

Ernst Middendorp Ernst Middendorp (born 28 October 1958) is a German football coach who coaches Cape Town Spurs. Apart from coaching in Germany, Middendorp has coached football clubs in Ghana, South Africa, Ethiopia, Tanzania, China, Iran and Cyprus. He has also ...

who sidelined Ngobese for the whole season, alleging he was confusing professional soccer for street football. By the time Middendorp left the team at the end of the season, Ngobese was completely out of form. The German international relieved Ngobese of his contract duties and was signed by

where he never played any significant games, and it is here that he was diagnosed with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

and was forced to hang his boots until he met his demise a few years later.

Death

Ngobese died on 11 May 2010 of HIV related illnesses, after having suffered from the disease since 2008. This was exactly a month before the start of the historical

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n version of the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

on June 11 of

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. An event he would've partaken in if it weren't for his sudden ailment, forced retirement and untimely death.

Pop culture

South African rapper

Kwesta Senzo Mfundo Vilakazi (born 11 August 1988) known professionally as Kwesta, is a South African rapper and songwriter. Born in Katlehong, Gauteng, a township also known as "K1". In 2003, at the age of 15, he and his friends formed a rap group G ...

paid homage to Scara by appearing on his " Spirit" music video wearing a shirt with Ngobese's name and his

jersey number (11) printed on it. The music video premiered on

SABC 1 SABC 1 is a South African public television network operated by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). It broadcasts programming in English and Nguni languages. SABC 1 was established in 1996 following the SABC's restructuring of it ...

on 30 December 2017 and features American recording artist,

Wale Wale or WALE may refer to: Places * Wale, Devon, a hamlet in England * Wale, Tomaszów Mazowiecki County, a village in Poland People * Wale (surname) *Wale (rapper), stage name of American rapper Olubowale Victor Akintimehin Radio and televisi ...

. DJ Fanatic, Reason and Kwesta made a song called "Number 11" (which is the kit number he used for most of his soccer career) to pay homage to the dribbling wizard.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ngobese, Emmanuel 1980 births 2010 deaths 21st-century deaths from tuberculosis South African men's soccer players Kaizer Chiefs F.C. players AmaZulu F.C. players Men's association football midfielders Tuberculosis deaths in South Africa 21st-century South African sportsmen People from Katlehong