‘I got to know the feeling of winning trophies’

“When I left Soweto for Giyani, I had no clue where it was and this being the first time that I was leaving home, this was my first test which would build me into being a man. My parents were suddenly not there and that was when I learnt just how much I had to be strong and be man enough.

“It was back then that I got to understand that to succeed I had to make sacrifices. At Dynamos I was happy that I was rubbing shoulders with big players. I understood that the competition was way too high and what mattered was that I was learning from the senior players instead of complaining about not playing.

“They showed me the way and made me understand how life in football is. I also have others learning from me now,” he points out.

Darkies, he blossomed and when the club was suddenly sold it only took a day for Black Leopards to come calling for his services.

“When Sakala was chased away from Dynamos he went to Darkies and though he didn’t play me regularly at Dynamos, he made it known that he needed me at Darkies. I now had to head off to Nelspruit – a place that I had also never been to before but when I got there.

“I played week in, week out from the word go. But then Darkies was then sold while we were at training with the manager asking the coach to stop in the middle of the session. They then sat us together and told us that the team has been sold and whoever wants to stay can stay and those that want to leave can do so as well. This is how fast things can change in football sometimes.

“I remember I was staying with Yeye [Reneilwe Letsholonyane] at the clubhouse so we sat down and spoke about the situation but luckily we had Thulaganyo [Gaoshubelwe] who played a huge role in calming us down.

“So, we then went took our clearances and came back to Johannesburg, but I was only back home for a day when Black Leopards came looking for me. I had been out chilling with my friends when I got a call from my dad saying there are people looking for me here at home so I must come back home.

“When I got there, I sa w a car written Black Leopards and I waas like, ‘what’s happening here now?’ TThat is when the Leopards people brokee the news that they are interestted in me and would love to leave with me right away to Venda.

“My dad loooked at me and asked me if I was fine with going to Ve nda and I said, ‘sure case’. When I got to Leopards, Sakala was the coach and that is howw we got going there. Saka la was like a father and always saw something in me, which iss why he was with me at three cllubs in a row.

“In recent yeaars I met him and still thankeed him for what he did in my career,”c details Maluleke.

At Leopards, Maluleke quickly established himself as an influential midfielder and eventually stayed for four-and-a-half years, which were all fought in the lower half of the table before they eventually sunk.

He says the time he spent at Leopards toughened him up and after a season playing in the First Division, he moved on to spend another four-and-a-half years SuperSport United, where he won trophies.

“I arrived at Leopards with my confidence on the up because it had been built up from playing regularly at Darkies. At Leopards the only issue was that when SuperSport came for me, things started to be sour with the chairman [David Thidiela] saying I was not ready to go.

“I had to convince him by asking him to give me a chance to go because the team had been relegated. At SuperSport I stayed for long because I got to know the feeling of winning trophies and it was a dream playing for such an organised and well-run team, considering where I had been before.

“Can you imagine coming from being relegated with Leopards to winning the league at SuperSport, where the unity of the team was great,” he says.

Approaching his 32nd birthday and with his game time numbers beginning to dwindle at SuperSport, he then left for Polokwane City, where he has now played for the past six years.

Nothing has changed about him in the sense that he has remained the gift of a talent that he has always been, a pleasure to watch and still as sweet as ever on the ball.

He has remained a master of unlocking defences, even though he doesn’t play from