by Benjamin Nyirenda
Kaizer Chiefs coach has shared some of his memories around Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena’s success as coach. Johnson, who has been a coach well before Mokwena coaching career started, will on Thursday face Mokwena when Chiefs and Sundowns meet for the final time this season.
The duo’s first encounter at the start of the season had Mokwena beat the then Chiefs coach Molefi Ntseki in their first DSTV Premiership match played at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in the city of Tshwane. The two teams met weeks later for the MTN8 semi-finals, where Mokwena was yet again victorious.
Chiefs will host the Brazilians at the FNB Stadium and speaking on Tuesday during the club’s media day in Naturena, Johnson said he was not surprised about the rise of young Mokwena as he had always liked learning. 
He said he was happy to see what Mokwena was achieving now.
“He is curious, very curious. He is inquisitive all the time; he wants to learn all the time. I remember when we were at Platinum Stars we went to Germany and played against a Barcelona team which has players like Tiago, and they thrashed us but he learnt a lot from that with an average Platinum Stars youngsters. That’s when I saw that he will have a great future. He likes to teach himself about things and that has helped him a lot,” Johnson said.
The former Platinum Stars coach added that Mokwena’s family bloodline had also helped him understand the game very well.
“You also know he is from football bloodline. He is from the family of Jomo Sono and though he didn’t play football at the highest level that bloodline is a football bloodline, and he knows what he has in him. Above all he is coaching a very good team. The team is playing in nice competitions and that is helping him grow as a coach. It’s good for him so far,” Johnson concluded.
The kick-off for this match is at 19:30pm.