Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena has opened up about his meeting with Kaizer Chiefs chairman Dr Kaizer Motaung, revealing what the Amakhosi boss said to him.
Mokwena shared the contents of the meeting as he tried to clarify the recent comments he made that Kaizer Chiefs are a ‘lucky team’. This is a remark that Mokwena says was misunderstood and was made to appear as if he was disrespecting the club.
Chiefs will take on Sundowns in the much anticipated first leg of the MTN8 semi-final at FNB Stadium on Saturday, 02 September, at 15:00.
At a media briefing held at the PSL offices in Parktown on Thursday, Mokwena revealed that Dr Motaung had acknowledged that his late grandfather, Eric Bhamuza Sono, played a pivotal role in the formation of the club.
Mokwena said that Dr Motaung told him that if it wasn’t for Sono’s death, Chiefs would never have been formed.
WHAT DR KAIZER MOTAUNG TOLD RULANI MOKWENA DURING THEIR MEETING
“When I met Ntate Kaizer Motaung for the first time. He called me and said, ‘I have been meaning to speak to you for many years. And I said, ‘I am all ears, sir’,” revealed Mokwena.
“He said to me, ‘If it wasn’t for your grandfather and his passing away, there would be no Kaizer Chiefs’. I looked him in the eyes and said, What do you mean?
“Dr Motaung said: ‘The amount of respect I have for your grandfather. What he did for my career, I would never have started this incredible football club If he was still alive’,” declared Mokwena.
WHAT RULANI MOKWENA MEANT WITH CHIEFS ARE A LUCKY TEAM COMMENTS
“So imagine if at any point my grandfather sitting in heaven felt I was disrespecting Kaizer Chiefs with that statement that I have just made. So I speak about it, knowing exactly what I am saying because there is a very strong link.
“Huge amount of respect that I have for the club and Dr Kaizer Motaung. And that’s where I speak when I say they are a club that has some direct lines with the heavens.
“That’s what we have to know. And that is the profile of the team we are playing against on Saturday,” added the Sundowns coach.
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