Orlando Pirates are committing the same tactical suicide that crippled Kaizer Chiefs, and the evidence is piling up with every player they hand to a direct rival. Offloading nine players this window, with seven already landing at Betway Premiership competitors, is not clever squad management—it is a reckless redistribution of talent that simultaneously thins Pirates’ own depth and raises the competitive floor of every team they will face.
The argument here is simple: depth wins titles, especially in a league that now sends its champion to the CAF Champions League group stage. By cutting loose players like Kabelo Dlamini, Katlego Mohamme, and Maliele Pule—each of whom has minutes against top opposition—Jose Riveiro has stripped his bench of proven rotational options. Dlamini, for instance, gave Pirates crucial energy in the middle third during last season’s MTN8 run; Mohamme offered cover at centre-back when Olisa Ndah was injured. Handing them to SuperSport United and Polokwane City respectively is not a clearance sale—it is an active investment in those clubs’ ambitions. Worse, Thembinkosi Lorch’s departure to Mamelodi Sundowns was a direct transfer of goal-scoring threat to the most dominant side in the country. That is not trimming fat; that is feeding the bull.
The evidence of this pattern is already visible in Chiefs’ recent history. For years, Amakhosi shed players like Lebogang Manyama, Samir Nurković, and Kearyn Baccus, expecting younger replacements to step up. Instead, those players revitalized second-tier sides and mid-table clubs, narrowing the gap between the traditional giants and the rest. Pirates are now mimicking that playbook. Ntsako Makhubela and Fortune Makaringe, both discarded by Pirates, have already joined Sekhukhune United and Cape Town City—clubs that finished in the top eight last season. Those teams now have experienced Betway Premiership performers who know how to navigate a Soweto derby atmosphere. The implication is stark: the league’s competitive floor rises while Pirates’ own squad depth deteriorates. When fixtures pile up—domestic league, cup competitions, and continental football—Riveiro will be forced to rely on untested youngsters or overworked starters, a recipe for dropped points.
The bold forward-looking verdict is this: if Pirates continue this exodus into the