Mokwena: I eat, sleep and breathe Pirates

Cape Town - Orlando Pirates manager Rulani Mokwena says there is no greater honour than leading the club he was born into supporting after taking over from Milutin Sredojevic.

Sredojevic resigned last Friday to take the reins at Egyptian giants Zamalek, paving the way for his assistant Mokwena to take over at the Buccanneers.

And Mokwena explained just how much it means to him to be the Bucs boss.

"The last couple of days for me has been exciting, I'm just excited and enjoying the responsibility of leading a club that I sleep, eat, breathe, leading the club that I was born into," Mokwena said.

Mokwena said his decision to leave Mamelodi Sundowns in 2017, where he was assistant manager, has been vindicated after rising to the top of the Pirates' hierarchy.

"If you cut my blood at the moment you would see I bleed black and white," said Mokwena.

"When I left Mamelodi Sundowns people said I made the wrong decision. Today I sit in a situation where I lead my grandfather's club, uncle's club, I lead my father's club.

"I'm honoured and privileged to be given such a responsibility by probably one of the most humble, loyal, hard-working human beings, the chairman of Orlando Pirates, Dr Irvin Khoza."

And Mokwena says he will leave no stone unturned in his bid to make the Sea Robbers the top team in the country once again.

"When you are given such responsibility and honour, all you can do is just enjoy and give the best that you can, you work 24/7 which is our culture at Orlando Pirates," he added.

"At the same time, you've got responsibilities to please so many Pirates supporters, and that is what we will continue to do, to serve this badge as much as we can, because we are part of it.

"We are part of this club. When it suffers, we suffer as well. We are with it in good moments, so ours is to make sure we turn the tables and stabilise things. Already we've done that and now it's about returning to winning."