Recently, Orlando Pirates loaned winger Monnapule Saleng to Premier Soccer League newcomers Orbit College FC.
Apparently, the 27-year-old is not the only Bucs player on the team; he will be joining Siyabulela Mabele, who is also a Buccaneer. The 22-year-old has been with the club since the 2021/2022 season, when they were competing in the SAFA ABC Motsepe League, and has since helped the club advance to the National First Division in the 2022/23 campaign, followed by a promotion to the top tier.
The attacker managed a total of 10 goals, both in the second tier and the play-offs, underlining his worth for the club.
‘I have never looked back'
“I was playing in my hometown in Uitval and Hlathi, competing for different teams even though my team that I grew up with was the Sea Robbers, which is where I caught the eye of people who could help me find a way to play football in another province far from home,” he told Isolezwe.
“I was only playing in my hometown because at that time, the team I played for, Sea Robbers, had not joined the league or the LFA at that time. I completed my matric in 2020, after playing in another tournament known as the Siya 10 Games, in Hlathi in 2021, I was then offered the opportunity to go to Orbit College which was playing in the ABC Motsepe League at that time, with the help of Muzi Kunene, Msa Mtshali and James “J” Ntombela, the manager of the Sea Robbers I played for,” Mabele continued to explain about his journey towards professional football.
“I arrived in Rustenburg without knowing anyone, without knowing the Tswana language and having never been outside the province of KwaZulu-Natal, and I started playing for a league team for the first time in my life, and I have never looked back,” Mabele continued.
‘I will appreciate playing in PSL with Orbit'
“Our promotion to the Motsepe Championship [National First Division] in the 2022/23 season was the beginning of a dream come true, and before we went to the Motsepe League Play-Offs in Pietermaritzburg that season, I was signed by Orlando Pirates after Orbit played in the Pirates Cup in 2022, as I am still on the books of Pirates who loaned me to Orbit,” the attacker added.
“And the team’s promotion to the Premier Soccer League means the fulfillment of a dream that has been in my mind for years since I was playing in the dirt at home. At the moment, nothing has been said to me about what will happen with my loan from Pirates, maybe I will hear when I return to Rustenburg to start training with the team on Monday.
“But what I can say is that I am happy where I am at the moment at Orbit, so I would really appreciate another opportunity to play my first season in the PSL with this team that I started with and that is like home to me,” Mabele concluded.
