Dysfunctional Safa are losing the plot

At this rate, Christmas may well come before the South African Football Association announce a new head coach for Bafana Bafana.

The continued delay in the naming of the new man to plot Bafana Bafana’s fortunes is not helpful, and not just for a national side that needs a coach to prepare them for this year’s Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup qualifiers.

It is also not helpful for Safa, who continue to give a good impression of an association that has absolutely no idea what it is doing. Safa have not helped their cause by continuously making commitments that they have been unable to keep.

Safa president Danny Jordaan said he wanted a new coach in place by the end of February.

That did not happen. Safa then promised a new coach in the first week of March, and then in the second.

Now we are in the third week of March and maybe they should just give the job to Owen da Gama, or even give it back to Shakes Mashaba, whose fight in the CCMA over unfair dismissal has now dragged on into April.

With this kind of bumbling leadership, that apparently also includes not knowing that South African midfielder Kamohelo Mokotjo has changed his nationality, is it any wonder that Bafana have descended from champions of Africa in 1996 to also-rans on the continent just over 20 years later?

It does make one feel like any success that Safa has, such as the qualification of the Under-20 side for their age-group World Cup later this year, is a random act of fortune rather than the product of any proper planning.

Not that this should take away from the achievement of Thabo Senong and his side, who have done brilliantly to make it to the World Cup, though they rather fell away at the end on the Caf Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations, in losing to Zambia and Guinea.

Even if the job was already done, in some sense, it would have been really good to see them go on and win the competition.

Still, the players are understandably revelling in the fact that they have qualified for the World Cup and in our regular One-on-One feature this week, we speak to midfielder Grant Margeman, another product of Ajax Cape Town’s excellent youth academy.

We also hear from Thabo Senong, who has again proved his value to the South African coaching set-up.

We also have the latest from around the clubs, as Gavin Hunt is unhappy with the refereeing in Wits’ defeat to Al-Ahly on Friday, and Orlando Pirates coach Kjell Jonevret is relishing the chance to work with his side a bit more, the Buccaneers afforded a three-week break from PSL football.

And congratulations to Themba Zwane of Mamelodi Sundowns, who wins Phakaaathi’s Player-of-the-Month award for February.

Finally, next week there will be an even-bigger, better Phakaaathi that hits the shelves, with an eight-page insert focused on the world of betting, and with more news and views on the beautiful game. I will bring you more news right here next week. Do take a look.