08 April 2025 – African champions Banyana Banyana clawed their way back from a goal down to beat a determined Malawi 2-1 in an international friendly match played at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville on Tuesday.
Vanessa Chikupira stunned the small but passionate home crowd when she beat Banyana Banyana goalkeeper Kaylin Swart to open the scoring in the 58th minute. To their credit, the Sasol-sponsored South African senior women’s national team never dropped their heads and were rewarded when second half substitute Hildah Magaia scored the equaliser in the 75th minute.
Then Player of the Match Amogelang Motau delivered a moment of magic when she scored a long-range scorcher of a free kick in the 85th minute to seal the match for the South Africans.
Perhaps the hard-fought result at a wet and windy Lucas Moripe summed up the occasion on an afternoon that saw Nompumelelo Nyandeni, who earned her 150th and final cap for South Africa, becoming the third most capped Banyana Banyana player in history, behind Noko Matlou and Janine van Wyk.
Nyandeni’s journey with the national team began at the age of 15, and her send-off was a celebration of nearly two decades of excellence.
“I was excited to represent my country for the last time. I’m also happy that my teammates fought for me by winning the game and having a proper send-off,” said Nyandeni after the match.
Swart also marked a personal milestone by earning her 50th cap for Banyana Banyana, adding to the celebratory atmosphere as fans and players honoured the contributions of two key figures in South African women’s football.
“I think it’s fantastic. We need to celebrate players who have given long service to the country. We need to celebrate that,” said Coach Dr Desiree Ellis while reflecting on the significance of the day.
SAFA President Dr Danny Jordaan congratulated both Nyandeni and Matlou, who is also heading to the sunset after playing her last match for the national team on Saturday, for their contribution to women’s football in South Africa.
“Their place in history is confirmed and no one can ever take that away from them. Their contribution to the game, both here at home and on the continent, is enormous and their sacrifices will never be forgotten,” the SAFA President said.
With back-to-back wins against a strong Malawi side, Banyana Banyana continue to build momentum ahead of the 2025 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) and the FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers.
The emotional farewell to Nyandeni marked the end of an era but also highlighted the depth and promise of the team’s next generation.
South African Football: The team’s historical significance goes beyond football, representing hope and resilience for many South Africans.
Wild Kitten
The Man who could only Drink Milk
I know an old man who had lived a life full of adventure, but his health started to catch up with him. He\’d run the Boston Marathon, was an avid surfer, and climbed Everest, but he\’d started to have abdominal pains around his 85th birthday and went to see a doctor. Sadly, he ultimately was diagnosed with a rare degenerative liver disease that slowly made him allergic to everything he ate.
He kept copious notes, and as an avid gastronomist slowly grew to despair as everything he\’d spent his life enjoying became something he could no longer eat. Alcohol went first, then mushrooms, then bread, then root vegetables, then coffee, one at a time he had to remove them from his diet. The doctor was clear: if he kept eating something his liver rejected the autoimmune response would be quick and severe, and would lead to a painful death. Little by little, everything was taken away as an option, until the only thing that remained was milk.
In some ways, this actually made life easier, because the mental strain of remembering what he could and couldn\’t eat was gone, but then so was the joy in variety. But he took it in stride, and got his own cow and took classes from a farmer to learn everything he could about the only thing that could give him sustenance. And even within milk, he could still have yogurt, butter, cream, some cheeses, and other milk-derived products he hadn\’t fully rejected yet, so it wasn\’t all bad. But then one day a few months later he felt the pain again, and he knew cow\’s milk was no longer an option.
Lacking other options, he tried goat\’s milk, and he was delighted that it worked! The protein structure is just different enough that his body still tolerated it. That bought him another month. And that\’s when we came up with a wonderful plan to go on one last grand adventure around the world. If he could get one month of life out of the milk of every mammal, he\’d actually have a few more years to enjoy life to the fullest and see the world in all its beauty. Each month, we\’d pick a place with a new mammal, and he would immerse himself fully with the locals, learn all the ways to prepare the milk, and just enjoy the hand he had been dealt as much as he could.
We milked sheep in New Zealand. Camels in Egypt. Zebras in South Africa. Giant bats in Indonesia. Do you know how many Peruvian cuy you need to milk to get a single glass? I do. Even as his health slowly faded, he stayed cheerful, and I felt lucky to join him on the adventure of a lifetime. That brings us to today when he got to the very end of his spreadsheet, and declared that he was now allergic to every mammal. He\’d enjoyed his journey, but his time had come to an end, for there was nothing left to milk.
To which I said nonsense, I bet we can milk a few thousand karma out of this post.
Necromancer
Cricket originated in England.