How Pirates’ emerging star Lebone Seema has football running through his veins

Long before young Orlando Pirates defender Lebone Seema could turn professional, it seemed predestined he would scale dizzying heights in South African football.

On April 5 2003 the now-22-year-old centreback was born into a footballing family. In Rheinland Village, also known as Shakoleng, about 75km north west of Polokwane in Limpopo, Seema’s family reigns supreme in football. The tiny settlement, with a population of about 600 and which also prides itself in having produced the late tycoon and chair of Global Oil South Africa, Sidipa John Mphosi, is where Lebone’s father, Matome ‘Sisco’ Ezra Seema, grew up.

In the 1980s, Sisco, as he is fondly known in football circles, suited up for the local club Hungry Tigers FC in midfield; the club he still plays for during the festive season’s masters’ games.

‘Sisco’ is a Spanish word meaning ‘free man’. Watching him in the masters’ games, it becomes clear where the moniker originated. With a No 6 emblazoned on the back of his jersey, Sisco controls the ball and sprays passes all over the pitch as though he is unmarked — a quality that makes up for his lack of pace.

Mokele ‘Malombo’ Rakololo, a resident of Shakoleng who watched Sisco play in his heyday, says the midfield general was a marvel to watch.

“Whenever I came home during the festive seasons back then, we would create soccer tournaments for the club, and Sisco would always undisputedly start in midfield,” Rakololo told Sunday Times. “He was a very good player. He would do wonders with the ball. He created and scored goals, something that made other clubs fear us.”

In the mid to late 2000s, Lebone’s older brother, Kamogelo ‘Mpitla’ Seema, and his cousin, Tumelo ‘Mshishi’ Seema, also turned out for Hungry Tigers as the next generation to carry the family’s legacy.

Every school holiday, Lebone, who was born and bred in Alexandra, Johannesburg, would travel to Limpopo where his surname carries weight on the football pitch. He would pull on the same Tigers shirt that his father and brothers would be clad in, with his late football-loving grandfather, Mothemana Melford Seema, watching from the sidelines.

For the Seema family, who have always boasted talented players, the sight of Lebone testing his skills against the elite in the Premier Soccer League for Soweto giants Pirates is the culmination of a dream they have always longed for. The entire town is proud to witness their own emerging as a role model.

“When Lebone scored against Orbit [with a stunning volleyed winner in a 1-0 league win at Orlando Stadium at the beginning of this season], it reminded me of the many great goals his big brother Mpitla used to score for us. I can still vividly remember the one he scored late last year for us in Schoonveldt,” said Daniel Dease, Lebone’s former teammate and goalkeeper at Hungry Tigers.

The 2025-26 campaign has been heady for Seema, from winning the MTN8 final, making his Caf Champions League debut, starting in all but one league game for Pirates and recently delivering a stellar performance against Mamelodi Sundowns. The centreback is one of his club’s shining lights, just as his name Lebone, which means light or lamp in Sepedi, denotes.

A product of TS Galaxy’s youth system, Seema was promoted to the Mpumalanga PSL outfit’s senior team in August 2022 at 19, the youngster cutting his teeth and impressing in 30 appearances until he was snapped up by Bucs in the preseason in July.

He was among a host of less high-profile signings that raised eyebrows among pundits, but who have proved astute as Pirates top the log at the halfway stage of the Betway Premiership under Moroccan coach Abdeslam Ouaddou, rattling the cage of second-placed eight-time successive champions Sundowns.

The slick-passing defender who likes driving forward with the ball at his feet has certainly settled in his new-found home, judging by how quickly he’s endeared himself to the Buccaneers’ fans.

While his talent is undeniable and there for all to see, one thing is certain about Seema: he is from a footballing family that has helped chart the route for his career.

“Whenever Lebone came home to play with us, you could see through his lovely touches and passes in midfield, as well as the few goals he scored for us, that he was a great player. And this was despite him being a year or two younger than most of the players in the club,” Dease said.

As Lebone Seema continues winning over the Pirates’ faithful with his impressive weekly displays, younger brother Tebogo, who is said to be equally talented if not better, is also intent on making his way in the professional ranks.

An avid football fan, grandpa Mothemana would spend most of his afternoons watching his grandsons and other young boys in the area play at the local ground. He was so heavily invested in the footballing aspirations of his grandsons that he did not complain when they once used the entire contents of a packet of his washing powder to clean the club’s kit. They would also be allowed to play soccer all day, according to Tumelo Seema, as long as they had left home having completed all their assigned chores.

If heaven could open for all to see, surely the selfless and white goatee-bearded Mothemana would be beaming with pride seeing grandson Lebone grace our screens in the famous black and white, and rooting for Tebogo to soon follow suit.

As the league leaders meet Marumo Gallants in the Premiership at Orlando on Saturday (3.30pm), then have big matches against Sundowns on February 18 and the Soweto derby against Kaizer Chiefs on February 28 (both at FNB), there will be a tiny village in Limpopo called Shakoleng where almost all the residents seem sure to be glued to their TV sets watching every move of their young hero.