Why Brilliant has gone back

Six days before being announced as one of the nine new signings at Orlando Pirates on Monday, goalkeeper Brilliant Khuzwayo (below) posted a picture of himself and the late Bucs captain Senzo Meyiwa in the same pose on Twitter, saying he has spoken to the father of his late friend.

The former Chiefs keeper who played second fiddle to Itumeleng Khune at Amakhosi, grew up in the same township of Umlazi in KwaZulu-Natal with Meyiwa, who died in 2014.

“We will never forget you Nzori … saw and spoke to your dad today (last Wednesday), tears in his eyes are always there when we talk about you, it was too touching. We even spoke about the Kasi football. I used to go watch London Cosmos, your amateur team. Long live Kasi, long live. Legend,” read the caption on Khuzwayo’s tweet.

A couple of hours after the announcement, Khuzwayo went on SABC Radio and revealed that his decision to join the Buccaneers had a lot to do with the talk he held with Meyiwa’s father and also because he played for Pirates’ juniors, which is why he snubbed Mamelodi Sundowns.

“It was not a difficult decision to make. Sundowns came back and said they wanted me but I wanted to come to Pirates because I played for their development team. I am very happy. In 2008 I was in the development team at Pirates and in 2018 I am back.”

Khuzwayo boards the Bucs ship along with Vincent Pule, Ben Motshwari, Meshack Maphangule, Asavela Mbekile, Linda Mntambo, Abel Mabaso, Paseka Mako and Kudakwashe Mahachi. The players were welcomed by assistant coach Rhulani Mokoena yesterday.

“You are a footballer for 90 minutes. The rest of the time you are a human being. We are going beyond football and what happens on the pitch. We are focused on developing good human beings,” Mokoena was quoted as saying.