The ceremonial changing of the Bafana Bafana guard was enacted at the FNB Stadium on Friday with canny former Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns coach Ted Dumitru predictably entrenched for the forthcoming African Nations Cup in place of Stuart Baxter — and Stanley ”Screamer” Tshabalala not so predictably clinging to the position of team general manager.
The other issue that raised more than a few eyebrows at an overcrowded media conference was the absence from the newly constructed technical staff of former Bafana Bafana and Leeds United captain Lucas Radebe in the capacity of an assistant coach to Dumitru, alongside Pitso Mosimane — as had been widely mooted.
Instead, Supersport United’s Mosimane will be the solitary Bafana assistant coach in Egypt, with South African Football Association (Safa) development coordinator and former Golden Arrows coach Simon Ngomane named as chief scout.
Whether he will be ”scouting” Bafana candidates or opposition teams — or both — was not made entirely clear about a position some suggested had deeper connotations.
Tshabalala, meanwhile, refuted speculation at the press briefing that an axe was hanging over his head, with the dry comment that he was ”not a contracted member of the technical team but a full-time employee of Safa”.
”As such,” he added, ”I am not involved in technical matters or in the changes that might materialise in the technical staff.”
Radebe said he has not been available to link up with Bafana at this juncture because of personal problems, but an offer for him to be appointed an assistant coach for the African Nations Cup has not been made — although the prospect has been suggested in official Safa quarters.
Dumitru was upbeat at the meeting, declaring the new technical staff — who officially start their momentous, tricky task on December 1 — will ”do the job” with which they have been entrusted.
He also had a one-word answer to the comment of his previous employer, Chiefs MD Kaizer Motaung, that he was a legitimate choice for Egypt but should not be considered as the coach when South Africa host the 2010 World Cup.
Asked whether he would be available to remain as coach until 2010, Dumitru replied with Speedy Gonzalez haste: ”Yes.” — Sapa