Former Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Steven Ncanana has sadly passed away over the weekend at just 36 years of age.
The sad news were confirmed by his brother, Leonard, who said Ncanana passed away on Sunday morning after he was admitted to the hospital a few days ago for sickness.
“Yes, he’s no more,” Leonard Ncanana told iDiski Times.
“He was ill for some time. This started a few days ago and we phoned the ambulance to pick him up and which came and you could see that it was bad.
“On Thursday, I phoned the hospital to ask to see him in the morning, which I did. Then when I was going to the gym, the call came through on Sunday that I have to rush to the hospital and I was told he’s no more.”
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Ncanana, 36, was signed by Chiefs ahead of the 2010/11 season by then coach Vladimir Vermezovic alongside Sthembiso Ngcobo, Dominic Mateba, Stanton Lewis and Siyabulela Songwiqi.
In his first season, Ncanana won the trophy as Chiefs thrashed their nemesis Orlando Pirates 3-0 at FNB Stadium in the final of the Telkom Knockout. .
He was also at Chiefs when they lost the MTN8 final to Pirates, who revenged by 1-0, at FNB Stadium in the 2011/12 season. Again Ncanana was not part of the team as Tinashe Nengomasha and Reneilwe Letsholonyane were preferred by coach VV.
While game time was hard to come by, in the same season, he managed to score one goal in a 2-2 draw against Bloemfontein Celtic in January 2011.
At that time, Chiefs were losing 2-0 before he pulled one back and then Knowledge Musona completed the comeback in the 90th minute to salvage a point. It was Ncanana’s only goal at the Glamour Boys in 12 league appearances as he was let go at the end of that season.
He returned to Thanda Royal Zulu where Chiefs initially signed him from, in the 2015/16 season. He was part of the late Roger Sikhakhane’s AmaBhubesi side that clinched the Motsepe Foundation Championship in the following season.
But that status was sold to AmaZulu ahead of the 2017/18 season, leaving Ncanana without a club.
“At Thanda it is when he suffered a bad injury (as he did not play a single match in the winning season) and then he stayed at home trying to heal, but it didn’t,” added Leonard.
“It was an injury that troubled him and that was the beginning of the end of his career.”
We, at iDiski Times, would like to send our condolences to Ncanana’s close friends and family in this difficult time.
