Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena has opened up on the incident of midfielder Thembinkosi Lorch who was seen celebrating with two women following his side’s lifting the DStv Premiership for the 14th time.
Lorch who joined the Brazilians during the January transfer window shocked the South African football communities when he left Orlando Pirates to join the Pretoria side and found himself trending for all the wrong reasons when he went live on Instagram and was seen celebrating with two female companions.
Mokwena said that he was extremely disappointed about the situation and shared his displeasure with the player over the call adding that he could not talk much about the issue because he is yet to have a face-to-face discussion with his player.
“Lorch called me and he was in tears and that broke me. I don’t want to talk too much about the issue (trending live video) until I’ve spoken to him in person. I will say I’m disappointed, because I have said that to him on the phone. Because I’m close to my players when my players are crying and are emotional, I get emotional, and I cry, and I feel their pain too. And that’s how close I am with them,” the coach said.
The 37-year-old coach also shared that he will meet the player one-on-one to discuss his view of the incident which involves him knowing Lorch from their time at Orlando Pirates and also to discuss what is allowed and tolerated at Mamelodi Sundowns.
“We also have to understand the role we hold in society, that says ours is to inspire and educate and serve. We’ve got a bigger role than just what people think… Like everybody else, Lorch is human. like me, who makes mistakes, who is imperfect. I’m probably even more imperfect than him and I probably make more mistakes than him. Mokwena concluded.
Sundowns are set to battle Orlando Pirates in the final of the Nedbank Cup on Saturday, 1 June. It will be interesting to see if the incident does not affect their preparations ahead of this important clash.
Written by Siphesihle Soni