I regret not scouting Peter Shalulile - Namibia minister of sport

Shalulile recently broke Siyabonga Nomvethe’s record for the most goals scored in the Premier Soccer League when he scored his 130th goal in Downs’ league clash against Stellenbosch FC.

Speaking to SABC Sport, Balloti, who is a former coach, insists the ministry is proud of Shalulile but hopes he gets more game time at Sundowns.

"We are very proud of Peter, we call him 'Shasha' and maybe right off the bat, there's a funny story that I'll share, when he was 17, he had trialed for a Khomas regional team and I  happened to have been the coach and I did not select Peter Shalulile,” Ballotti said.

“So, it remains one of my life lessons, but we are so proud of him and obviously with 130 goals, he surpassed Siyabonga Nomvethe, who's a legend, but we are so glad that a Namibian now holds the South African record.

“He scored a lot of goals for Namibia as well, as everyone is aware he banged a hat-trick yesterday, so we are really proud of Peter, of course, we'd love him to get more game time at Sundowns, but we'll leave that for another interview,"

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Another Namibian player that has won the heart of South African football fans is Orlando Pirates star Deon Hotto.

Hotto has been crucial in helping the Buccaneers claim back-to-back MTN8 and Nedbank Cup titles.

The minister adds that he wanted to scout Hotto when he was still a coach, but they had no budget for him.

"Deon played for one of the teams in Swakopmund in Namibia in his younger days, it was a team called SFC Swakopmund Football Club and I had scouted him and at the time, I think my chairperson said he was too expensive and we wanted to offer him R3000 a month and the chairperson said, we just don't have that budget and we had to make peace with that,” he explained.

“Fast forward, he went to African Stars, and then he moved to SA, and today I'm sure R3000 is maybe cool drink money for him.