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Golden handshake for Pitso

Cape Town - Former Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane might have cost the SA Football Association (SAFA) more than R70m after failing to qualify for this year’s Soccer World Cup - but he still walked away with a hefty golden handshake.

According to the Sunday Independent, Mosimane and SAFA reached an out of court settlement in February that saw the former team coach walk away with about R15m – including R13.1m for about two years left in his contract when he was fired, R1.5m for 65 days leave and over R110 000 for petrol and other claims.

Mosimane says that the team’s failure to qualify was due to circumstances beyond his control. He blamed SAFA for not having provided him with a complete support team and for not having established proper and efficient talent identification programmes among other issues.

Mosimane took over the country’s hot seat following the departure of Carlos Alberto Pereira in July 2010 after failing to lead Bafana to the second round of the World Cup, despite being the hosts.

Mosimane, who was fired in 2012, was succeeded by current coach, Gordon Igesund, whose job is also in jeopardy following Bafana’s failure to qualify for this year's tournament in Brazil, as well as failing to reach the semi-finals of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and the quarter-finals of the African Nations Championship (CHAN).

Bafana played hosts to both those AFCON and CHAN tournaments.

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