'Shabba', as the midfielder is affectionately known in South Africa, has ended his 12-year stay with Kaizer Chiefs and joined Turkish topflight side Erzurumspor on a two-year deal, which includes an option.
Amakhosi confirmed the transfer on Tuesday after much speculation.
"I need to give this glory to God for what happened because I think as you may be aware this is very unusual for a 33-year-old player to move to Europe," Mahlakgane tells snl24.com/kickoff.
"I don't even wanna start talking about celebrating because firstly for him work starts tomorrow. He will attend training upon his arrival, they want to use him over the weekend. And for me I think it's more of glorifying the gods that I had to see this thing in my lifetime - that one of my players moves overseas at the age of 33. And I think age is just a number with the potential that Shabba has. I think he's gonna be there for a very long time."
Mahlakgane feel the unlikely move was not about proving any point.
"I don't even think that we are in the business of proving anything wrong. I think one is in the business of moulding proper human beings, proper neighbours to somebody somewhere, proper father one day to another woman and so forth. I don't think we are in the business of proving anything ... because if you want to prove anything in life you will keep on proving every day, you will never win.
"I think for me what is good for Shabba now is for him to start afresh. I will call it a fresh start because he's been with Chiefs for 12 years, what else can he do that he has not done? He's been with Bafana Bafana, he has scored goals in the World Cup. So if you think about it, locally, he has done everything else. The only thing left was for him to retire, so we can't wait for retirement. When this thing happened, it was a good challenge, it was a new challenge. We had to really appreciate it and thank God for it again for what happened.
"And I think people were taken by surprise because as you know, naturally at home once you are over 30 you are a write-off, and I don't think that Shabba is one of those people ... in fact let me put it this way, any of my 18 players that I manage, the future lies in their hands. Because I am absolutely honest with them and I tell them what I think is right for them to do. And the pressures are there in football. Any player that is under my stable can play anywhere in the world if they want. But I think even if you finish your career at home, you will still be a good neighbour to somebody.
"It's been two months since we've been discussing indaba ka Shabba. We just kept at it quietly because firstly it was a question of that we've just renewed ... after we renewed with Kaizer Chiefs this offer came through. You understand that once you got a contract with the club you can't just do anything about it. So we had to find a way to deal with this thing because in the other way we had to find a transfer fee for a club because already he had already signed a contract [with Chiefs]. So you understand that from that point you need to start finding a way to make this deal happen. And the only way was to give Kaizer Chiefs what they wanted. So it was a bit of a challenge because we had to then find a transfer fee that Chiefs will accept for him to be able to go and play in his dream country, or anywhere in Europe where he would have loved to end his career.
"I can confirm to you that we've got a two plus one, so it's a two-year contract with an option for one to renew. So I think if you ask me, yes it's a three-year deal if you like because at Kaizer Chiefs we had a one-year deal. I think this move was a well calculated move because at 33 to be bought by a club in Europe, that means there is something special about this boy."