Benni McCarthy on How Harambee Stars Assistant Pushed Him to Pen His Biography

Harambee Stars coach Benni McCarthy has been on a drive to popularise his biography but it could have never been written were it not for one of his friends and colleague.

McCarthy officially launched his biography titled ‘BENNI’ last month and it is co-authored by South African journalist and football commentator Mark Gleeson.

It documents his story from a gang-ridden Cape Flats in Cape Town, South Africa to football stardom, having been one of the most successful footballers in the country.

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However, McCarthy says the thought of penning his biography never crossed his mind and it was his friend and Harambee Stars goalkeeping coach Moeneeb Josephs who encouraged him to put his story out there to inspire others and also set the record straight on a number of misconceptions during his playing career.

“He [Josephs] is constantly in my space, we work together, played together for Bafana and Orlando Pirates,” McCarthy said on SuperSport TV.

“So he is just like; ‘Bro, you have to [write the book], you inspire me, you inspire us and the more he was saying it, the more it kind of hit me like I think I downplayed myself a little bit,” he added.

McCarthy says Josephs’ words motivated him and once he realised that others have been celebrated in South Africa for achieving much less than what he managed, he needed to go all out.

“When I look and see the people what we as South Africans celebrate sometimes and I think they haven’t really done nothing and we celebrate that,” he went on. “What I have experienced and achieved I don’t even celebrate; I feel like it is nothing but I should be prouder and do something.”

McCarthy and Josephs go a long way, having grown up together before linking up at Orlando Pirates where they enjoyed success, winning the club’s last league title in 2012, while they also featured for the South African national team.

Since their retirement, Josephs has been McCarthy’s right-hand man and worked as his goalkeeping coach at AmaZulu FC in South Africa and then came along with him when he landed the Harambee Stars job in March 2025.