Seeing his young brother Innocent Maela doing well for himself and being chosen to fill veteran Happy Jele’s shoes at Orlando Pirates brings pride and joy to Tshepo Masilela.
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Maela was named captain at Pirates this season following Jele’s exit from the club after serving them for over 17 years most of which as captain.
Maela has taken to his new task at the Buccaneers like a duck to water and that does not surprise Masilela.
“I am obviously very proud of him,” says the former Kaizer Chiefs and AmaZulu defender who has recently retired.
He was speaking on the sidelines of the Carling Black Label Cup media launch in Bryanston, Johannesburg on Tuesday.
“I always tell him that he has done well since he broke into the first team. He now has Bafana Bafana caps, and things have been going well for him.
“It was his time to lead the team and it’s not something new to him. He was captain at Thanda Royal Zulu when they won promotion,” explains Masilela.
“And they (Pirates) would have seen leadership qualities in him hence they chose him to be captain. And I am proud of him.
“I believe he is up to the task. He is there at training everyday and they see him. They look at the behaviour and how he handles himself in various situations.
“So, they would not have chosen him if he was not capable of leading the team,” adds Masilela.
He was however not as forthcoming when he was asked about what he is up to these days since he is retired from professional football.
“I am doing Carling (Black Label) work and I have been voting. For now I would like to stick to football and only talk about football.”
It is however believed that Masilela is into mining as he has posted some pictures and videos of himself in mining gear on Instagram.
