Snl24 | Iron Duke Recalls Memorable Pitso Meeting

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – JULY 29: PSL Chairman Dr Irvin Khoza during the Premier Soccer League chairman press conference at PSL Headquarters on July 29, 2022 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images)

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.”