On a chilly Friday morning, I find Irvin Khoza sitting at the head of the long table in his boardroom at the Premier Soccer League (PSL) offices in Parktown, Johannesburg. With two heaters on either side of the table, the room stands in stark contrast to the low mercury outside.
The PSL chairman looks warm. He has a beige top under a brown leather jacket, worn with matching pants — colours that break the monotony of the maroon curtains resembling the famous hues of Moroka Swallows, the now-defunct club Khoza once confessed to have a soft spot for.
As Orlando Pirates boss, Khoza appointed Abdeslam Ouaddou to succeed the successful Jose Riveiro and acquired 13 players for the Betway Premiership season that kicked off yesterday.
The signing of Sipho Mbule — who Khoza said he wanted to recruit while he was at SuperSport United “because we saw then that he’s a rare quality” — warmed the hearts of The Ghost, while some wondered whether the club wasn’t courting trouble by signing the supremely talented midfielder troubled by off-the-field antics. “When we decided to get Mbule now, something very tricky happened.
“He said: ‘I appreciate that you want to take me on a free clearance, with all the baggage that I have. But can you do me a favour… if you can get me a player like [Oswin] Appollis, I’ll be happy.’ So, we did a lot of work of understanding the person. There’s a reverence and respect he commands from players of all teams, even the supporters, an aura that he’s got that maybe we don’t understand.
“Whenever I deal with players, I always think about my children, that they must be given a chance in life. Life is impatient with people. Some are impatient with their own children. Football helps you, and teaches you to be patient, to understand, to engage. Worse, the generation we have today is difficult to understand.
“Things have moved. That’s why my old expression ‘you cannot dry today’s washing with yesterday’s sun’ — because we’re learning every day as we move on. It’s trickier now with the internet, life coming into our space to understand the psyche of the players, the psyche of the youth ... So it’s a learning experience.”
Though Khoza concedes there’s no guarantee the gamble with Mbule will pay off, he’s adamant it’s dice Pirates are prepared to roll. “Maybe we’ll be lucky to understand the actual problem. It might be beyond us, but we shall have tried. If you give people a chance, your kids one day will be given a chance. The world is impatient. They write you off. He’s someone we think has potential but doesn’t realise it. Let’s see how far we can go. Some people might say we’re reckless. I’ll accept that.
“The boy is not a problem, he’s got a problem. We are dealing with it. It’s a work in progress. I can’t prophesy that we’ve already pinned down the causative factors of things we think need intervention. The immediate one we’ve already applied but we’re working on it. We can’t be experts; we’re only ordinary football people.
The boy is not a problem, he’s got a problem. We are dealing with it. It’s a work in progress. I can’t prophesy that we’ve already pinned down the causative factors of things we think need intervention
— Irvin Khoza, Orlando Pirates and PSL chairman
“It’s too early for me to say anything. But he is responding very well. We did it with Jabu Pule, and discovered things the country is not aware of and I won’t talk about it in terms of his life. He shared his life, and that was a trigger to us.”
Pule’s story motivated Pirates to shoot BucsCamp, a documentary series in which players talk about their life situations because “supporters might be misunderstanding and give you a tag that demotivates you, that cancels you because cancel culture is so prevalent in our society”.
Mbule’s request for Appollis aside, Pirates had previously attempted to capture the highly-rated Bafana Bafana international, but Polokwane City weren’t ready to sell. “He was on our radar screen two years ago. We were hoping, waiting... Then with this utterance of Mbule, we [thought we] have to resuscitate the inquiry. I don’t know if it’s God’s grace or coincidence or good timing.
“We’re fortunate that we ended up acquiring Appollis. We appreciate that Mr [Johnny] Mogaladi [City chairman] gave us the opportunity to get the player.”
While Riveiro’s three-year tenure delivered five trophies, Pirates ended three times a bridesmaid, trailing champions Sundowns by over 10-point margins. Moroccan Ouaddou was chosen to run the league race better.
“It was a no brainer for us because he has been to some teams in Europe, played there. He’s rounded. What motivated us most is that, after playing, he wanted to empower himself and get qualifications to be a complete coach. There were no coaching courses in his country. He used his own money to go to Algeria and get qualified.”
That determination distinguished Ouaddou from other hopefuls.
“It’s unusual for a player to be daring in that way. That told us he is a disciplined man, a hard worker who wants to give himself a chance. The most important thing for a coach is to be disciplined. That must rub off on the players. They need help and intervention. His never-say-die attitude and [that he] spends his own money, gave us comfort that we can allow him to be a coach of Pirates and give him all the support. Let’s see how it goes.”
Following Senzo Meyiwa’s death in 2014, an emotionally drained Khoza, who has a reputation as the strongman of South African soccer, spoke tearfully about his sense of loss, saying the killing of the Pirates and Bafana Bafana captain “shattered my soul”.
He added: “I lost loyalty. You can’t buy it anywhere. I’m feeling empty. People like Senzo, I don’t have too many of them in the safety deposit box. He never, not once, let me down.”
This week in the high court in Pretoria, the defence is arguing for the charges against the five men accused of Meyiwa’s murder to be dropped. “There’s been too many voices and commentary around Senzo. That’s why as Pirates we’ve decided to keep quiet.
“We did what is right by executing our appreciation for getting the boy at the age of 13, and taking back his lifeless body to his parents when [he was] the captain of the club and the national team. Seemingly, the state has closed its case. Which direction [it goes] I don’t know. I can only comment after the case is finalised.
“We are proud at Pirates that we discharged our responsibility of showing what Senzo meant to us. That’s what I’m comfortable with. For now, we allow the wheels of justice to continue. Fortunately, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. We’re waiting.”
This week, Pirates added Amstel to the catalogue of their sponsors. Khoza heaped praise on his sons Nkosana and Mpumi for clinching the deal, leaving one wondering whether he was handing over the baton. “In life, it is good when you give with a warm hand than to give with a cold hand. The comment on Wednesday was congratulating them for managing the transaction with me not involved.
“The two of them engaged in negotiations, finalising the contract, [and] I was not involved. That’s why it behoved me to congratulate them. You must acknowledge if something is good. It’s not sentimental — not because of the relationship. It was because of a job well done. That’s why I am proud because I was not involved from day one. Which is remarkable. It deserves the honour.”
Are they now running the club?
“I can’t say much. We are talking about the context of the sponsorship. I don’t want to expose my boys to things … For now, they are part of the team. I was talking uniquely about the event you are talking about, just giving you context.”
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