How Shakes lost his cool

SA Football Association (Safa) spokesman Dominic Chimhavi has described the actions of former Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba after the win over Senegal in Polokwane last year as unprofessional, unacceptable and overstepping the mark.

During cross-examination by the Safa lawyer Mark Thompson at Mashaba’s arbitration hearing yesterday, Chimhavi said the behaviour of Mashaba caused serious damage to Safa.

Recounting the events of that day, where Mashaba berated the media after the November 12 World Cup qualifier against Senegal, Chimhavi said Mashaba was very aggressive, in a fit of rage and overstepped the boundaries of their communications policy.

“He was aggressive, he was uncontrollable and his actions were unacceptable and overstepped the mark because the visuals were beamed across the world because of the magnitude of the match,” said Chimhavi.

“He was unprofessional and his actions put the name of the association into disrepute and [caused] serious reputational damage. I received calls from CNN , BBC and other major news agencies on the continent and I did not know what to tell them.

“We had just pulled off a fantastic win over a tough team like Senegal but instead of basking in the glory he went on an unnecessary tirade against the media and the leadership of Safa.”

He said every employee of Safa was bound by the company’s communications policy, which they treat as a bible, and there have been people in the past who were fired for failing to abide by it.

In his cross-examination of Chimhavi, Mashaba’s lawyer Claudio Bollo said Safa does not respect its communications policy and was merely using it to get rid of his client.

Chimhavi added that Mashaba’s relationship

“There was no love lost between Mashaba and the media