This man is disrespectful

“I SEE EVERYONE IS KEEPING QUIET AS IF THINGS ARE GOING WELL. THINGS ARE BAD RIGHT NOW. THE OLDER AND LEGENDS COACHES LIKE PITSO MOSIMANE ARE QUIET.”

Going by the sobriquet “Gusheshe”, w hich in tow nship parlance is an alternative name for BMW, a vehicle model know n for its effortless ability to leave its counterparts on the road eating dust, Jimmy Kauleza’s prolific and predatory nature as a striker first stole the eye at Free State Stars. Equally talented players such as Duncan Lechesa, Tsw eu Mokoro and Goodman Mazibuko, to mention just three, w ere responsible for ensuring this sleek ‘German machine’ evaded roadblocks in the form of Gerald Raphahlela, the late Joas Magolego and the like. And as one door shut in the form of Ea Lla Koto’s franchise being bought by the League along w ith that of Ria Stars to reduce the number of topflight clubs from 18 to 16, another opened as Orlando Pirates came calling. This w as Johannesburg, and at times this Gusheshe could be found parked pitchside, as gametime proved hard to come by, but still, he managed six Bafana Bafana caps. Now , more than a decade since retirement, the 46-year-old took time out of his busy schedule to speak to Soccer Laduma’s Zola Doda. The conversation centres around the national team, w ho are currently doing duty at the Africa Cup of Nations, w hile there are some choice w ords for the man in charge, the irrepressible Hugo Broos. Fasten your seatbelt!

Zola Doda: Jimmy, it’s been more than 10 years since you retired from football. What have you been up to nowadays?

Jimmy Kauleza: I’m currently working for the municipality in East London. But otherwise, life is good. After returning to Free State Stars, I joined Bay United, where I played for one season before retiring. It was not an easy decision, but in life, you have to accept that you cannot stay young forever. I stayed three years before getting employed by the municipality and fortunately, I never really struggled.

ZD: Bafana Bafana are participating at the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Cote d’Ivoire. As a former player, can you tell us about your experience of playing for the national team?

JK:

The Bafana Bafana I played for was different, we used to work really hard. The Class of 1996 set a very high standard for future generations and it was up to us to aspire to reach that level. It was up to us to reach that level and I also wanted to get there. I used to spend a lot of time with players like the late Phil Masinga and Shoes Moshoeu – the standard was really high. We wanted to get there. I played with players like Jabu Pule (now Mahlangu), Clement Mazibuko, Mbulelo Mabizela, Goodman Mazibuko, Benedict Vilakazi, and Lesley Manyathela was my partner up front. In my first season as a Bafana Bafana player, we won the COSAFA Cup under Shakes Mashaba. We had a very strong team. In 1996, they set a very high standard and new players like myself had to reach it.

ZD: What do you think of the current team doing duty at the Afcon?

JK:

This current team is a disaster. I want to tell you something, I respect our players a lot because in South Africa, we have a lot of talent, but the problem is that SAFA chose a coach (Hugo Broos) and gave him too much freedom. This coach is disrespecting the county – he doesn’t respect players, he doesn’t respect clubs and he doesn’t respect coaches. He just talks recklessly. How can you tell players that they are weak? As a coach, you are supposed to be the driver of the team and the performance comes from you. As a coach, you are in control of the performance of the team, and now you don’t respect them! You tell coaches anything you want to tell them. You also provoke opponents. In football, if you don’t have a respect, you are going to lose. Once you provoke your opponents, you are giving them strength. I don’t like what he said about Zimbabwe when he said that they must be banned because they don’t have stadiums. Zimbabwe will come out stronger when they play against us because our coach doesn’t respect opponents, he talks recklessly. Bafana Bafana has players, but our coach is weak. He talks too much. He is not focused on what he came here to do. He also selected a wrong team for the Afcon.

ZD: What do you mean when you say he selected a wrong team?

JK:

This is not our best team that has been selected to play at Afcon. There are players like Thembinkosi Lorch who have been left out – we need Lorch because of his experience. He would have helped at the tournament, I’m telling you. I respect the players who are there, they can play. Lorch had a great Afcon in Egypt in 2019. We beat Egypt in their home ground and Lorch played a massive role. We needed Lorch in this team. It’s unfortunate that Kermit Erasmus is injured because he would have been there. Players like Evidence Makgopa don’t have experience to play in Africa. Playing in Africa is difficult and I know this because I’ve played there before. It’s difficult to play there. We also left out Khanyisa Mayo, who is on form. Cassius Mailula has been left out, as well as Iqraam Rayners from Stellenbosch FC. There are so many deserving players who have been left out because our coach is not focused. That is what I realise about this coach. Maybe SAFA gave him too much freedom and he is now attacking everyone without focusing on his job. He is attacking our local coaches and teams. He said there are no good players at Kaizer Chiefs. What is that? I’ve never seen a coach that is so disrespectful, this is the first time. In football, you must have a respect and respect your opponents. If you don’t do that, you will lose. We will struggle against Namibia because Namibia sees us as their heroes. Namibia will be motivated when they play against us and Peter Shalulile is going to kill us. That match will be tough.

ZD: Are you blaming SAFA that Bafana has Broos as a coach?

JK:

It’s SAFA’s fault. This coach is disrespectful… there is no other way to explain his behaviour. He is not even a good coach, he just talks too much. Helman Mkhalele must tell him that after we won the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations, we were ranked number 16 in the FIFA world rankings. We were ranked very high. Our performance was also very high. To make things worse now, Bafana Bafana doesn’t even play good football, and we can’t blame players for that. This is all because of the coach. His system is very difficult. He must go back and watch all the Bafana Bafana old matches. We used to play 4-4-2 and this coach is using 4-3-3. When you use a 4-3-3 formation, all your three front players must score goals, not players who will score one goal in every match. That will never work. The system used by this coach is difficult for those boys.

ZD: What do you expect from this Afcon as far as our national team is concerned? JK:

Bafana Bafana is not playing, that’s a fact. Our fans know football and you can’t cheat them. Fans have been watching football from the 1990s when the standard was very high, so you can’t cheat them. They know their football. I see everyone is keeping quiet as if things are going well. Things are bad right now. The older legends and coaches like Pitso Mosimane are quiet. I’m still saying even if we win a few matches, the fact remains we are not playing good football.

ZD: What is your best solution to that?

JK: The coach must go. He must go because he is not focused on what he came here to do. There are lots of promising players, like Antonio van Wyk, who deserve a place in the team. Bradley Cross is another great player. Bradley works hard and deserves to be in the team, but we have a coach with his own agenda. Mayo should be having more than 20 caps. Why is he not there? Mayo is a great player. There are so many good players who deserve to be in the national team.

ZD: If the Belgian deserves to get fired, who is the right coach for Bafana?

JK: Pitso Mosimane is a good coach, countries like Nigeria are looking at him. If Pitso can coach Nigeria, they will play good football. Bra Shakes Mashaba knows our football culture very well and can do well. Let’s put politics aside. Pitso and Bra Shakes are both more than capable of taking charge of the national team again, and those two can do a better job than this guy who doesn’t respect us. I earned my first cap under Shakes. I grew up in front of Bra Shakes when he was the coach of Vaal Reefs Stars in Orkney. I used to live in Orkney and I knew him very well. Bra Shakes used to follow my career since I was an amateur and that made it easy for him to select me for Bafana Bafana. Besides Bra Shakes, we have a lot of coaches who are capable of coaching Bafana Bafana, so I don’t really know why do we have to go overseas to look for someone. We can’t even control this guy because everyone is afraid of him. He told coach Rhulani Mokwena that he is a (Jose) Mourinho. This man is disrespectful.

ZD: Is coaching only bad at Bafana or is it also happening at DStv Premiership clubs, in your opinion?

JK: If you look at a club like Kaizer Chiefs, they are also struggling because they need a good coach. Orlando Pirates is playing entertaining football, but their coach (Jose Riveiro) is on and off with his team selection. Otherwise, Pirates plays good football and they can give Mamelodi Sundowns a run for their money. Sundowns, on the other hand, plays top football. If you watch Stellenbosch, they play good football under Steve Barker. So, the standard of coaching is not that bad. That’s why I’m saying the problem with Bafana Bafana is that SAFA is selecting wrong coaches. Even if he has experience, it doesn’t help. Even supporters don’t want to go to the stadiums because how can they watch such football? You can never cheat our fans, they know good football and that’s why they will never go to matches. There’s a lot of talent in South Africa. This coach must be told about his mistakes.

ZD: When you look at this team, how far do you think they will go in this Africa Cup of Nations tournament?

JK: We will never know for sure because this team is on and off. When you expect them to win, they will lose and when you expect them to lose, they will win. You can never know. Even now, people are not sure what is going to happen after we lost the first match. As a public, we know football and this is not football that Bafana Bafana is playing. Even as a player, I would never play that football.

ZD: What did you make of the loss to Mali?

JK:

I thought we played really well, we got chances before Mali, but still we failed to convert them. We must only blame ourselves for that. I saw two chances – the first one was a penalty and there was another one where Percy (Tau) was supposed to cross the ball before Mali scored. We are faced with a do-or-die situation in the two remaining matches against Namibia and Tunisia. We were knocking the ball around well, but our strikers were not getting passes. We knock the ball around well, but our target man doesn’t receive passes. We can’t blame Evidence Makgopa and say he doesn’t score, he was not getting passes. We do have good players, but we need someone who can make them play. In the first half, we beat Mali with ball possession.