Pirates aim for second star, treble – Monyane

Orlando Pirates fullback Thabiso Monyane hasn’t hidden the fact that his goal is to finally cement his berth in the Bafana Bafana set-up in the 2024/25 season.

“I’d like to, first of all, get to that Bafana team and cement my spot there, heading into the [2026] World Cup [to be co-hosted by US, Mexico and Canada]. I am looking forward to that. I am willing to work hard for it,” Monyane said on the sidelines of Pirates’ jersey launch at Orlando Stadium on Monday.

Monyane is capped once by Bafana, with coach Hugo Broos having been selecting Mamelodi Sundowns' Khuliso Mudau and Nyiko Mobbie of SuperSport United at right-back in recent years. Bafana’s next game is an Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier against Uganda on September 2.

Monyane also described their new jersey – which pays homage to social activist James “Father of Soweto” Mpanza as “special” – believing it will inspire them to win what would be their second CAF Champions League title in the 2024/25 term. “It's a very special jersey,” he said.

“Having an icon like the Father of Soweto, Mr Mpanza, is a motivation on its own, especially for us going into the continental space ... it's just going to play a big role for us and hopefully, the spirit of Mr Mpanza is going to push us and help us grab that second star.

“We know that we bowed out of the Champions League early last season, and this season we are looking forward to going all the way to get a second star.”

Pirates have failed to win the league since their last triumph in the 2011/12 season. Monyane emphasised that they were aiming to finally end their 12-year championship drought and also want to defend the MTN8 and the Nedbank Cup to make it a treble.

The Bucs defender revealed the emphasis was on starting the season strongly. “We know for the past two seasons, we haven't started the season as good as we wanted to, and we are looking to rectify that by starting the season well and that contributes towards winning the league, of course. We also want to retain our titles, the MTN8 and the Nedbank Cup, and make it a treble with the league title... those are our ambitions, so there's much at stake,” Monyane stated.