Rhulani is going nowhere‚ says Orlando Pirates coach Micho

Orlando Pirates’ highly sought-after assistant-coach Rhulani Mokwena (32) is going nowhere‚ according to Bucs coach Milutin 'Micho' Sredojevic.

Sredojevic was reacting to the recent reports that have linked Mokwena with a possible move to SuperSport United and Polokwane City.

Mokwena was part of the Bucs’ technical staff that helped the club finished second in the Absa Premiership last season‚ erasing the ghost of the previous campaign in which the club finished outside the top eight for the first time in the PSL era.

The Soweto-born Mokwena – grandson of Bucs legend Eric ‘Scara’ Sono‚ who was the father of another Pirates great‚ Jomo Sono – was seen as having played a magnificent role behind the scenes in helping Sredojevic change the team’s fortunes.

He joined Pirates from Mamelodi Sundowns at the start of last season a few days after the arrival of Sredojevic for his second stint as head coach of Bucs.

Having enjoyed a great working relationship with Mokwena‚ Sredojevic wasted no time in dismissing all the speculation surrounding his assistant.

“I have no right to comment about that but coach Rhulani is firmly in the team’s project‚” the coach said.

“We are together building the team and I don’t want to deal with any comment regarding that [departure]‚ except to say that coach Rhulani is part of the team’s future.”

Both SuperSport and Polokwane have never confirmed their interest in Mokwena.

Polokwane did say they still have confidence in their coach‚ Bernard Molekwa‚ while SuperSport now look set to promote Kaitano Tembo to the head coach position after having served for years as assistant to a number of coaches at the club.