Johannesburg - Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane has been given an ultimatum by SAFA to at least reach the final of the African Nations Cup next year or face the axe, reports the Business Day.

SA will host the three-week continental showpiece in January next year and acting SAFA president Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana surprisingly revealed on Thursday that Mosimane had been told by his employers that his job was entirely dependent on meeting this stiff condition.

"I am afraid to use the phrase but heads will have to roll (if Bafana do not reach the final)," Nonkonyana said in his trademark forthright manner on Thursday.

"Obviously if we are booted out in the first round, well, it would be a serious indictment.

"That is why we have given the coach all the support he needs because we will not be amused if we are beaten and we do not (at least) make it to the final.

"When you are host in the country, then you must at least go to the final so that we can be No1 on the continent again."

Mosimane faces a tough challenge as Bafana have not gone anywhere near the final of the African Nations Cup since their 2-0 defeat to Egypt in Ouagadougou in the tournament decider of the 1998 event.

That appearance in the final 14 years ago was followed by a sharp decline that reached new lows when Bafana failed to qualify for the 2010 and 2012 Nations Cup events.

Mosimane managed to avoid the axe after Bafana’s 0-0 draw with Sierra Leone at Nelspruit’s Mbombela Stadium in October cost the national team a place in the 2012 event now under way in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

SAFA now seems to have tired of defending him, as Nonkonyana conceded on Thursday that they have given the coach all the support he needs and he cannot come up with any excuses if he fails to meet the new objectives.