Mandla Ncikazi hits back at critics over Orlando Pirates’ title-clinching win

Orlando Pirates assistant coach Mandla Ncikazi has defended the club’s 2025/26 Betway Premiership triumph, insisting there is a double standard in the reaction to the Buccaneers’ title-clinching victory over Orbit College, which was decided by two own goals.

Pirates went into the final match of last season needing a win against Orbit College to secure the league, and achieved it with a 2-0 success. Both goals, however, came via mistakes from Orbit players – goalkeeper Sabelo Nkomo and defender Ndumiso Ngiba – prompting widespread suspicion and online mockery from some neutrals.

The result delivered the Premiership title to Pirates but immediately sparked conspiracy theories, with critics questioning the legitimacy of a decisive match in which neither goal was scored by a Pirates player.

Ncikazi, speaking on the final episode of the club’s documentary series “Bucs Camp: We Fight Until The End”, said the intensity of the backlash was rooted in hostility towards Orlando Pirates and not in anything unprecedented that happened in the game.

Ncikazi questions double standards

The former Golden Arrows coach argued that similar incidents involving other leading clubs have not attracted the same level of scrutiny, and highlighted previous matches in which multiple own goals were recorded.

“I like how the knives become sharper for decisions that are (for) Orlando Pirates,” Ncikazi said in the documentary.

“If you remember correctly I don’t think in the PSL is the first time you see two own goals in one match, you saw it in Siwelele versus Sundowns but nobody is talking about it. For the first time you saw Siwelele conceding seven goals, something that has never happened to them in their history,” he added, referring to a heavy defeat suffered by Bloemfontein Celtic against Mamelodi Sundowns in a past Premier Soccer League fixture.

Ncikazi also recalled another domestic match in which two own goals were scored in favour of Kaizer Chiefs in a game against AmaZulu, questioning why similar talking points around those fixtures did not linger in the same way.

“I saw it with Kaizer Chiefs, I think they played (against) AmaZulu, I saw two own goals, why is it such a big issue if it happens with Pirates?” he asked.

Motives of critics challenged

Ncikazi suggested that the level of outrage around Pirates’ win over Orbit College reflected a desire among some observers to see the Soweto side fall short, particularly after a long period without a league title.

“Again, it goes back to how much people want to see Pirates failing? There are a lot of people who support Pirates but you must be aware that while you’re succeeding, some people don’t want you to succeed,” he said.

“For me I just see a hatred for the big institution, which I understand, we have not won in 14 years, some people have been dominating for years and all of a sudden you see how much Pirates have grown. Sundowns were 24 points ahead of us, the following season 12 points and now you win the league. Listen, nobody is going to be happy,” Ncikazi continued.

Title run and shifting power

Pirates’ recent league success ended a 14-year wait for a Premiership crown and came against the backdrop of Mamelodi Sundowns’ long-standing domestic dominance.

Ncikazi pointed out that the gap to Sundowns had been steadily shrinking, from a 24-point deficit one season to 12 points the next, before Pirates overtook them to claim the title.

The assistant coach did not directly address specific allegations raised after the Orbit College match, but his comments framed the controversy as part of a broader resistance to Pirates’ re-emergence as a title-winning force.

The “Bucs Camp: We Fight Until The End” series, in which he made the remarks, documents the club’s campaign and offers an inside view of their route to the 2025/26 Betway Premiership, culminating in that contentious final-day victory.