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Johannesburg - Bring it on!
This is the dare from Safa to beleaguered former Bafana Bafana coach Ephraim Shakes Mashaba ahead of Tuesday’s hearing at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) hearing.
Mashaba is claiming unfair dismissal after being shown the door in December.
Chief executive officer Dennis Mumble told City Press on Friday that they were ready to defend their decision and prove they were right.
Mumble dismissed Mashaba’s efforts as a waste of time.
Unsolicited CVs
However, Mashaba’s legal representative, Claudio Bollo, said they were confident the conciliation process would work in their favour.
“We are hoping for an amicable solution from this process and we will take it from there,” said Bollo.
He said they had already approached the labour court to interdict Safa from continuing with a search for Mashaba’s replacement until the CCMA has ruled on the matter.
“The case has been set for February 14 and we hope it will be a good Valentine’s Day for us, but what happens on Tuesday will determine if we go ahead with the case or not.”
However, Mumble said that Safa was proceeding with the search for Mashaba’s replacement.
He revealed that Safa had received many unsolicited CVs.
“It’s only this past week that I have had a chance to go through some of the CVs and I’m impressed by the calibre of coaches who have shown interest in the job.”
Way forward
Former Cameroon, Thailand and Jamaica coach Winfried Schäfer and Johnny McKinstry, who had a stint with the Rwanda national team and Sierra Leone, have also thrown their names into the hat.
Others who have been linked to the job include Carlos Queiroz, Hervé Renard, Milutin Sredojevic and Gavin Hunt.
But Mumble said they had not yet started the process of sifting through the list.
He said he would brief the national executive committee (NEC) members on Saturday on the way forward.
“We first need to take our proposal of the criteria and mandate to the NEC so they ratify them as we don’t want a situation whereby they are in the dark. I’m waiting for the president [Danny Jordaan] to come back from Gabon so we can get the ball rolling.”
He said Safa’s technical committee had decided to tighten the mandate and criteria of the new coach.
Prove themselves
“First, he must qualify for the next Afcon and also bring a medal. Secondly, in his first year the team must move up the Fifa ranking.
"Thirdly, he must qualify for the 2018 World Cup and reach the knockout stages.
“Lastly, he must win the Cosafa Cup because we are taking this tournament seriously and don’t want to treat it as a sideshow.”
Mumble said they would evaluate each mandate after every stage, adding they would ask the executive committee to give them direction regrading the appointment of the Banyana Banyana coach.
The team has been without a mentor since the departure of Vera Pauw after the Rio Olympic Games in August. Desiree Ellis and Maud Khumalo have been acting in the position.
“Do we give the current team another chance to prove themselves or do we search outside?”
He said the mandate for the Banyana coach would be to qualify for the next Africa Cup of Nations in 2018 in Ghana and win a medal; qualify for the next World Cup and also reach the knockout stages in France in 2019 as well as book a place at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
“We saw under Vera that it is possible to go all the way in international tournaments.”
