Bafana Bafana, it’s a mess, mmmmmmm mess

WHEN Mzwakhe Mbuli did his struggle poetry, Triple M was one of his compositions.

It was a poesy about apartheid apparatchiks. Mangope. Mphephu. Matanzima. It is a mess, Mmmm mess That’s one of the stanzas Mbuli used to lament the bantustan leaders’ collaboration with the apartheid administration.

He could have been talking about Bafana Bafana. Mashaba (Shakes) Mokotjo (Kamohelo) Bafana It is a mess Mmmm mess

The situation is becoming senseless. Something has got to give. Fast. Mashaba’s tenure is floating into a rough terrain.

The ride will be turbulent even for one who deems himself as tough as he. Today on the back page of this newspaper we carry a disturbing story of the national senior soccer side players claiming to be gatvol with Mashaba.

Stone age is the accusation against his coaching methods.

They paint a picture of their time in national camp as an encounter with Horrible Hulk himself.

By threatening not to honour the call-ups for the next Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) 2017 qualifier, they are drawing a line in the sand — this far and no more, Mashaba.

Effectively, they are daring the South African Football Association (Safa) to fire him. There are deeplying problems in that camp.

Mashaba is hired by Safa. The players are invited by Safa. Have the players addressed their concerns directly with the coach?

If not him, have these murmurs of discontent been mentioned to the team manager Barney Kujane? If not, why not? Something doesn’t add up here. How has a coach who breathed a breath of fresh air into the team by leading them to Afcon 2015 qualification at a canter gone off the rails so horribly? Where does this pomposity on his part come from?

A pedestrian approach to preparation will always create a commotion of consternation.

Because Mashaba is more stubborn than a mule, he will disregard the mutiny developing under his nose.

Is there unity in this mutiny or is the camp divided into two factions: one for the coach and the other for Mokotjo?

He believes Mashaba has a personal vendetta against him.

Has the player raised his concerns directly with the coach and vice versa? If the treatment so greatly grates Mokotjo’s pancreas — as it clearly does — why not confront Mashaba face to face rather than raising his ire via the media?

I have said it before and will say it again: It is not right for a player to think he can quit because he is under the illusion that he has a god-given right to play.

Similarly, it is an open secret that Mashaba’s sensibility to be overly emotional leaves little or no room for flexibility.

His wrecking-ball approach must come to an end . . . pronto. If he’s prepared to make ill-considered comments about a player being “sluggish and heavy” — whatever the hell that means — he must be conscious to the fact that he leaves the door open for the favour to be returned.

Mashaba is a loudmouth, Mokotjo retaliated. Nwe, nwe, nwe.

Both forget that this is not a Mashaba-Mokotjo stokvel.

Mokotjo has always struck me as a level-headed, cool-as-a-cucumber chap who has always spoken with brutal honesty.

But quitting the national team on Instagram is cheap.

Someone must remind Mashaba he is coaching Bafana at the behest of Safa on behalf of the nation. Period.