Daily Sun (February 6 2015) - FOUR years ago Abey and Capulate made a deal. They agreed they would play professional football before they turned 23 - or die.
In December, Abey killed himself, but not without reminding his friend of their deadly deal.
TODAY, CAPULATE IS NOT A PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALLER AND HE IS STILL ALIVE . . . BUT HE TURNS 23 IN TWO WEEKS' TIME!
"My friend, Abey Damans and I made a bet in 2011 that if we were not playing at professional level by the age of 23, we would end our lives," said Capulate Malete from Lanseria, near Joburg.
"Before Abey killed himself he reminded me of our arrangement. He made me promise I would go through with my end of the deal."
Time is running out for Capulate. He turns 23 on 20 February.
Anybody who has ever seen the talented goalkeeper play is impressed with his skills.
They call him "Lanseria's number one" or "Golden Hands Capulate".
But he has never cracked the big time.
"Many people encouraged me to take up soccer professionally, including Lucky Baloyi, who saw me play once," he said.
"But I am still playing at small clubs around Lanseria."
Capulate's mum, Christina Malete (43) is unhappy with her son's talk of death.
She said her son is very involved in soccer.
"He played at school and started his own club, but I don't think soccer is a real career because it's very short," she said.
"His friend may have died for their deal, but I want my son to stop thinking about it and get on with his life."
Abey's sister, Nompie, said they still can't believe Abey died because of his love of soccer.
"All he talked about was soccer but I can't accept that he would kill himself for it.
"He was full of life. He was studying travel and tourism.
"He could have lived a full life."
But Capulate told the People's Paper about a conversation he had with Abey just before he died.
"He said he was ending his life because he had lost hope that he would still make it into the football industry because of his age," said Capulate.
"Now I'm tempted to do the same. We used to practise every day.
"We dreamt of playing for Chiefs one day."
He said Abey's father told him he should give it another year.
"He told me to wait until I'm 24 years old," he said.
Capulate said his friend went to a party in Diepsloot and came back sick.
He died a few days later and they think he died of poisoning.
See the Daily Sun's new website for more on this and other stories....
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