Coach saga rumbles on
CCMA TO HEAR MASHABA’S CASE AGAINST HIS FORMER EMPLOYERS Morocco’s Herve Renard joins list of possible candidates.
It could be a successful, if not entirely amiable settlement when the Shakes Mashaba-Safa sacking impasse reaches its D-Day on Tuesday with a CCMA hearing. The disconcerting alternative is the continuation of a bitter and untimely dispute that could end up in the labour courts and prove damaging for Bafana Bafana’s prospects in a helter-skelter year of World Cup, Africa Cup of Nations and Chan qualifiers.
In the first instance, Mashaba will be asking at the arbitration meeting to be reinstated as the Bafana coach or be paid out a hefty amount in the vicinity of R8 million in compensation for the uncompleted portion of his contract.
His case is based on the fact that Bafana had made steady progress since the low point of failing to qualify for the current Afcon in Gabon, with the World Cup qualifying victory over the powerful and fancied Senegal prior to his sacking making his dismissal illogical in spite of his retaliatory verbal blast against president Danny Jordaan and other Safa officials.
Present indications are that Safa will not agree to either of Mashaba’s propositions, which leaves the door open to a compromise settlement in which the sacked Bafana coach receives some sort of agreeable compensation.
Failing this, the dispute will almost certainly continue – indeed becoming more bitter and costly for South African football and also hampering the appointment of the Bafana coach.
Meanwhile, speculation continues like wildfire as to who is best equipped to be appointed at the helm of Bafana to deal with such daunting tasks as the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Nigeria (away), the homeand-away World Cup qualifiers against the Cape Verde Islands and perhaps most crucially, the away World Cup qualifier against Senegal in November.
The latest prominent candidate for the job is French-born Moroccan coach Herve Renard, who has the imposing record of helping guide both Zambia and the Ivory Coast to Cup of Nations honours.
At the same time, Carlos Queiroz, the former Bafana and Portugal supremo and respected assistant coach of Manchester United, who appeared both a strong and logical choice with family ties existing in South Africa, may now not go through with a proclaimed intention to resign as the Iran coach.
And then there is a substantial body who believe a South African would best fit the bill as the Bafana coach – with half-a-dozen potential candidates named in this respect.