Iron Duke recalls young Pitso bursting into his office to show his credentials

Orlando Pirates and Premier Soccer League chair Irvin Khoza has reminisced meeting with an audacious, far younger Pitso Mosimane more than two decades ago as the latter began the journey to become one of the top coaches on the African continent.

Khoza, nicknamed the “Iron Duke”, was speaking during the handover of a multipurpose sport court to Lofentse Girls High School in Orlando township by Nedbank and Nedbank Cup champions Pirates.

The court at the school, which is a stone’s throw from Orlando Stadium, was named after Mosimane, presently coach of United Arab Emirates club Al Wahda.

Khoza shared a story of how a determined Mosimane — the former Jomo Cosmos, Ionikos, Mamelodi Sundowns and, briefly, Pirates striker — took a taxi from Soweto to Sandton to meet the Bucs chair in his office without an appointment at the end of the 1990s.    

“In 1999, we were working on our first bid to host the Fifa World Cup in South Africa. Our [the bid’s] offices were in Summer Place in Hyde Park,” Khoza recalled.

“Someone came to notify me that I had a visitor. That visitor turned out to be a young man who had used a taxi to come all the way from Soweto.

“This young man was as delighted as a student that had passed matric after noticing that his name had been listed in the newspaper. Especially when their name is accompanied by an asterisk, confirming their university entrance and subject passed with distinction.

“I remember that this young man had passed his course with distinction and had come to share the news with me. That day I saw something I could not believe, this young man didn’t even realise what he had exuded.

“I saw fire in his eyes and veins. I saw a determination so strong that it could not be deterred. I remember thinking, this is one of those who will be guided by their vision and not their fears.

“There was no doubt in my mind that this young man had a vision. To me vision is the audacity to see an invisible goal, and to manage to work towards one until you succeed.

“This is a true story. The young man who came to see me way back in 1999 was Mr Pitso 'Jingles' Mosimane.

“He came to Summer Place without an appointment to show me his coaching qualifications, which he had acquired cum laude.”

Mosimane has gone on to a hugely successful coaching career — arguably the strongest by a South African — at SuperSport United, Sundowns, Egyptian giants Aly Ahly, and in Saudi Arabia with Al-Ahli.

The three-time Caf Champions League-winning coach also had a stint was a Bafana Bafana assistant coach to Carlos Alberto Parreira in the build-up to and during the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa.

Mosimane was named the head coach of Bafana after the tournament, replacing Parreira. He has won 19 career titles as a club coach.