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Thanks, but no thanks Mr Mashaba

Weekend media reports suggested that Tuesday’s Nelson Mandela Challenge match between Bafana Bafana and the Pharaohs of Egypt would - or given the unpredictability of the football world one must rather use the word could - be Shakes Mashaba’s last in charge.

All print, electronic, digital and social media was abuzz with how fed up the South African Football Association (SAFA) was  with the coach and how they were soon to show him the door.

However, typical of SAFA, an organisation that has become synonymous with the word indecisiveness, the president Danny Jordaan told one publication that for a decision on the coach to be made, CEO Dennis Mumble will have to meet with Mashaba and his technical team, drag a report out of them and then meet with the revered Technical Committee for them to present their own report on the coach’s performance.

Only then would Mumble report to the national executive committee (NEC) which will, based on the CEO’s report, take a decision on whether the coach stays or walks.

Now, if that is not balderdash of the highest order, you tell me what is.

For an organisation born 24 years ago in 1992, by now, no matter how slow the suites at SAFA are, they should have realised that football is a result oriented business. As a result, they should, like most world-class football associations and professional clubs, been able to make coaches sign performance-driven contracts.

If they had made Mashaba sign such a contract, they should have shown him the door a long time ago based on performance alone. This is besides his behaviour in public.

Just last week, he had a go at Mamelodi Sundowns and former Bafana Bafana mentor Pitso Mosimane. And as if that was not enough, his press conference became a circus that all his gatherings have become, with the coach starting by lecturing the media on how they should go about their duty.

He went on to say how much of a negative effect their reporting about him was having on his family, including his poor four-year-old grandson.

Poor sod!

And then the arrogant and egocentric man goes on and plays a 1-all draw with the lowly-ranked Mauritania whom, the same team he and his Bafana had lost in the first leg, leading to the situation they find themselves in today of not qualifying for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals in Gabon.

And I wouldn’t be surprised if he blames the media for Friday’s result that was an outcome of a lackluster performance.

Honourable Mashaba, there is something they say about the direction of the other four fingers whenever you point a finger. There is also something called introspection, which I suspect might be a foreign concept to Mashaba,

If SAFA has not realised that Mashaba has become like a bull in a China shop, then they might not be aware that he is this close to committing a similar dastardly act committed by one national coach way back in 1992, who took it upon himself to slap a journalist, thus making it easy for SAFA then to get rid of him.

Does SAFA want it to get to that stage?

Methinks not.

S'Busiso Mseleku is regarded as one of Africa's leading sports journalists and an authority on football. He has received some of the biggest awards in a career spanning over 30 years. He is currently City Press Sports Editor.

Disclaimer: Sport24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on Sport24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Sport24.
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