Proteas’s Former Player Ventures Into Music
Tsotsobe on how he handled being banned from Proteas
After being banned for 8 years to play for the professional team Proteas former player Lonwabo Tsotsobe has decided to venture into music which he expressed to be one of his greatest passions.
Back in 2017 the former Highveld Lions cricketer was handed an eight-year ban from the game due to a number of breaches of Cricket South Africa’s Anti-Corruption Code for Personnel. This followed a lengthy investigation after another player, Gulam Bodi, had admitted to charges of contriving or attempting to fix matches in the 2015 domestic Ram Slam T20 Challenge. Tsotsobe only admitted to one charge of contriving to fix a match in the tournament.
Following his banning from the team the DJ said he became so depressed luckily for family he managed to survive. “I was depressed and I asked myself many questions, not because was guilty but because I could no longer do what I love the most. I never even went on trial for me to say my side of the story. Anyway, it’s too late to turn back the wheel.”
Lonwabo is now a DJ at pubs in and around Port Elizabeth, after the ban he relocated to his hometown PE. “People are shocked when they see me DJing at local pubs like KwaNgqoko in New Brighton and they think I am down and out but I am not,” said Tsotsobe.
Tsotsobe says he performs for free because music is more like a hobby to him. “I have always loved music. Even when I was still playing cricket professionally I bought myself DJing equipment and I would play at home and entertain my friends. Now I travel all over the country as DJ Tso,” he added.
The cricketer now owns a company that supplies oil, petrol, and diesel to petrol stations, farmers and mining companies. Hoping to one day get back into cricket, Tsotsobe says he looks forward to the future and not even an eight-year ban will get him down.
