Orlando Pirates and Premier Soccer League Chairman Dr Irvin Khoza took a trip down memory lane as he recalled how he met an ambitious Pitso Mosimane in 1999, hellbent on becoming one of the country’s best coaches.
Dr Khoza was in attendance on Tuesday as Orlando Pirates in partnership with Nedbank and the PSL presented a multipurpose sports court to Lofentse Girls High School in Orlando East, Soweto.
Coach Pitso Mosimane, as the official ambassador of the 2023 Nedbank Cup, was honoured with the naming rights to the multipurpose sports court, and made an appearance having made a short trip to South Africa from his UAE base.
Mosimane met the Iron Duke, as Khoza is affectionately known when he turned out for Orlando Pirates between 1988 and 1989 – but Dr Khoza shared a rare memory of meeting a young ‘Jingles, who had turned to coaching after hanging up his boots with UAE-based club, Al Sadd 10 years later.
“In 1999, we were working on our first bid to host the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, our offices were at Summer Place in Hyde Park, someone came to notify me that I had a visitor,” he told members of the media.
“That visitor turned out to be a young man that used a taxi to come all the way from Soweto to Summer Place. This young man was as delighted as a student that has passed matric and noticing that his name has been listed in the newspaper, especially when their name is accompanied by an Asterix, confirming their university entrance and subjects passed with distinction.
“I remember that this young man had passed his courses with distinction, he had come to share the news with me. That day I saw something I could not believe, this young man did not realize what he exuded. I saw fire in his eyes and veins. I saw a determination so strong, that he could not be deterred. I remember thinking, this is one of those that will be guided by their visions and not their fears.
“There was no doubt in my mind that this young man had a vision – the audacity to see an invisible goal, yet managed to work towards one until you succeed. This is a true story.
“The young man that came to see me way back in 1999 was Pitso ‘Jingles’ Mosimane!
“He came to Summer Place without an appointment to show his coaching qualifications, which he had acquired Cum Laude, with distinctions.”
