Why Shaky is going nowhere fast: the sad tale of South African football

Head man: Shakes Mashaba

ALL hope is lost. Well, just about. There is actually a complicated list of results which could still see battered Bafana Bafana get to AFCON 2017 in Gabon.

But it’s a helluva long-shot. Only Ghana managed to get through to Equatorial Guinea in 2015 with 11 points out of seven group winners. Everybody else topped their groups with 12, 13, 14 or even a perfect 18 points.

The most South Africa can get after their frustrating 0-0 draw against an unambitious Cameroon in Durban last week? NINE POINTS. 

Somehow, if Cameroon and Mauritania contrive to fall over before the line from here, Shaky - as he is now known - might still get through on goal difference if Bafana beat Gambia away and Mauritania at home.

So yes, Mr Mashaba, you’re right. “Our AFCON 2017 campaign is looking darker and darker” but there is a tiny loophole of light.

But it’s the way Shaky tells it that lacks a certain professionalism. A crass mixture of arrogance and denialism never did anybody much good. Ask our president.

Mashaba was waxing lyrical about his chances of making it to Gabon as one of two best runners-up in the group. Again, that will probably require 11 points. But when that was put to him at the press conference, Mashaba responded rudely, asking “who’s view is more important here, yours or mine?”.

The attitude is not new. Mashaba got his son Thabo to ask questions when his imminent failure began to become an acceptable topic last year. And then there was the time he told us: “I’m going to be rude — I think my colour is a problem here. That’s what I’m going to say.”

All patent nonsense of course. Gordon Igesund and a string of Brazilians took far more stick far earlier in their reigns. 

The problem with Mashaba is not his arrogance or his colour. It’s his utter failure to select in-form national squads, his inability to hold on to a lead, his blindness to quick substitutions and... well... South Africa’s general footballing demise over the past 18 months.

Going back to the 2-2 draw in Nigeria in 2014 - which capped off an unbeaten qualification campaign for AFCON 2015 - Shaky has presided over EIGHT African Cup of Nations fixtures. Of those, five were drawn, three were lost... and not a single one has been won.

We left AFCON 2015 with one point. Then came COSAFA and CHAN failures, bracketed by the Group M debacle we now find ourselves embroiled in. A home draw with Gambia was unexpected. Defeat in Mauritania simply unacceptable.

Though Mashaba started his qualifying campaign in 2014 by picking youngsters in line with SAFA president’s VISION2022 programme, by the time AFCON 2015 came around he was doing the usual Bafana boss thing: picking players suggested by his favourite agents, some of whom weren’t even playing for their clubs.

Ignoring in-form players - to the point where he actually accused our one few top-level regular European players he was "too heavy". Going for older and older players and ignoring the Vision2022 blueprint. 

Dennis Mumble, the curious little man who went from Team Manager to CEO at SAFA in the space of four years, insists after the recent qualifying debacle: “The judgement process is already underway. We do not want to react with a knee-jerk.

“We do have the option of telling Mashaba “listen this is not going to work” (before World Cup qualifying begins with the draw in June) but we still have confidence in our head coach.”

Sadly then, and this is a national trend, our leadership will stay intact despite obvious, critical failure at the highest level.

When Mashaba told us after failing at home against Cameroon: “If we play like this we will qualify for the World Cup” his shortcomings were revealed in a sentence.

When I was discussing Kamohelo Mokotjo's complaints in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf today, I got four or five calls from interesting sources in the South African game talking about life under Mashaba.

One, an agent, told me Mashaba only deals with "local agents" and that he gets kickbacks for picking them in his squads. We've been there before. Hard to prove, easy to suggest looking at the continual selection of players who attend club games armed with cushions.

Then there was the former Bafana player revealing how Mashaba's training camps are "like amateur night" and that general chaos surrounds a call up to the South African team. Missed flights, team meetings where Mashaba is an hour late, the time in Latin America where the players stayed in bunk beds while Shaky flew home on the first flight to coach the Nedbank Keyona team.

Or how about the coach who said: "When Shaky suffered a few withdrawals before the Cameroon games, he didn't have any numbers to call replacements. They were scrambling about trying to find somebody, anybody.

"There is no communication with SAFA, there are international players who have not heard from Mashaba since he took over. Others who are called to the squad but just get ignored for a week. We've even had players called up... and then told not to come."

Then, from my mole at SAFA House, THIS: "A senior official told Mashaba to try to be more relaxed with the media. He just laughed. It was suggested he should stand aside for the World Cup qualifiers but he just shrugged his shoulders."

Reading between the lines of this morning's calls, it appears - like our president Jacob Zuma - there is NOTHING that would make Mashaba leave his lucrative leadership role.

With money coming in from SAFA, his expenses, Nedbank and so-called "other sources", Mashaba is earning more than our top PSL coaches for doing a lot less and achieving next to nothing.

One player told me this morning: "He barely talks to some of the squad, particularly the overseas players. He has his favourites. There are agents everywhere. The team talks are a joke, some of us can't even understand what he's saying. He makes references to Apartheid and the struggle, but we have no idea what to do when we go down the tunnel.

"Sometimes he just shrugs and says "I know nothing about the opposition" which isn't great 10 minutes before a vital game."

The clincher for me was from the SAFA House mole: "Mashaba appoints more and more people around him without even asking the Executive. He does as he pleases. He doesn't turn up for meetings if he thinks it's going to go badly for him.

"He doesn't listen when we offer advice, he says: "I know how this works. I know all about how SAFA works" then he simply walks away."

The suggestion - from a series of unsolicited callers/emailers which I obviously can't name - being: SAFA can't fire Shaky because he knows too much. He holds the power. Certainly sounded that way to me.

But it’s not just Shaky is it? We live in a nation where crowd figures and transfer fees are top secret. Three of our four representatives are out of continental club competition. Our referees are as poor as our strikers and Kaizer Chiefs, the nation’s favourite club, haven’t scored in five games.

Mumble himself has admitted SAFA is essentially bankrupt, spending R500m a year with an annual income of R300m - and then they turned to penniless national carrier SAA for help! Danny Jordaan has gone from telling me South African football was his one driving ambition to taking the mayoral role in Port Elizabeth and telling us: “Football is just a hobby for me.”

The only bright point? Zimbabwe, packed with PSL stars, SHOULD get to Gabon. At least we’ll have something to cheer about in 2017.

The story that had to be written: how Shakes Mashaba destroyed Kamohelo Mokotjo's international career

Wanted for R105m: Shakes Mashaba reject Kamohelo Mokotjo

SO  here it is. The Kamohelo Mokotjo story that has to be written, as the transfer window slams shut in Europe tonight with Southampton showing a (South African record) R105m interest in the FC Twente midfielder.

It is a sad tale of arrogance and poor judgement, miscommunication and wasted opportunity for South Africa… much like the equally bizarre dumping of Thulani Serero and May Mahlangu, two more top young talents we might never see in a Bafana Bafana shirt again.

It starts shortly after the most recent re-appointment of “cheapest option” Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba as our national coach at the end of July last year.

When Mashaba picked his first Bafana squad for the opening AFCON Group A qualifiers against Sudan away and Nigeria at home, Mokotjo was an automatic selection for South Africa, having been blooded by Gordon Igesund against Mozambique in September 2012.

Playing in the Ere Divisie for FC Twente after spells with Feyenoord and PEC Zwolle, the 23-year-old was getting rave reviews in Holland, topping the charts statistically and winning over fans in Enschede.

It was no surprise. The lad from dusty Kutloanong, 10km outside the remote mining community of Odendaalsrus in the Free State, was first spotted by no lesser legend than Zinedane Zidane in 2003 when South Africa’s Under 12s swept to victory in the Danone Nations Cup in Paris (http://www.southafrica.info/2010/u12soccer-080903.htm). World Cup winner ZZ picked Mokotjo out as his player of the tournament and a bright career was underway.

BORN TO SUCCEED: South Africa's U12 Danone Cup winners in Paris
in 2003. Mokotjo was voted player of the tournament by Zidane

Makotjo enjoyed a single season for PSL champions SuperSport United in Tshwane under Gavin Hunt in 2009. Hunt, speaking exclusively tonight, remembers: “Kamohelo was a fantastic player back then. The thing about him was his technique. He could really pass a ball. I used him as a substitute that season, we were winning the league… but I knew he was going to Holland.”

And so it came to erm... pass. So what exactly went wrong when he was called up by Shakes? Mokotjo turned up in Johannesburg and flew to Khartoum with Mashaba’s brand new Bafana. But he didn’t even appear on the bench as Shakes recorded his first win in his latest spell in charge of our footballing fortunes.

Mokotjo then flew back to Cape Town for the Nigeria game, was named on the bench, but did not come on in a 0-0 draw against the reigning AFCON champions.

Bemused, bothered and bewildered, Mokotjo return to Enschede to await developments after flying 17,000kms (Amsterdam-London-Johannesburg-Khartoum-Cape Town-Johannesburg-Amsterdam) and failing to kick a ball in anger. And when Mashaba picked his second squad for the home and away clashes against the Congo, he found himself DROPPED.

Here, word for word, is Mashaba’s explanation for that decision: “When I looked at Mokotjo in training, there were some signs of him being heavy and sluggish. I think the process of finding a new club in Holland took its toll on him.

“He’s a good player, and I think with time, if he works hard, he will be alright.”

Mokotjo was having none of it. Here’s his response: “I honestly don’t want to go on about not being selected for Bafana, the trainer should select the players that he wants. But the reasons he gave for not picking me were surprising and very strange.

“I was in camp the whole time and the coach never said a thing. Now, out of nowhere, he has stuff to say about me in the media that I find disrespectful.

“He could have just told me what he thought of me to my face rather than calling me heavy and sluggish and saying that moving to a new club has taken its toll on me. That I don’t appreciate because none of it is true.”

Football experts remain utterly flummoxed by the whole saga. Did Mashaba really see a chubby no-hoper when highly-rated scouts and coaches saw finely-honed talent? Still, Mashaba was unbeaten and the "Shakes Knows Best" show limped on to impressive AFCON qualification before last week's woeful elimination with a single point.

And that would be the last we heard of it. Clearly one of our finest young players was no longer going to play for his country again under the current coach despite all the talk about SAFA’s vision for the future.

Only Mashaba went further. Next he had May Mahlangu BANNED for turning down a Bafana call due to fatigue. Then, even more bizarrely, he “went bezerk” (according to a SAFA official, I have the SMS on my phone) and didn’t pick South Africa’s only Champions League star Serero for AFCON2015 despite his Man of the Match performance in qualifying against Sudan at home.

My attempts to understand that peculiar episode are written along with a SAFA document clearly showing the nature of Mashaba's blunder (Serero was due to report for camp on January 2 but was axed on December 30, work that one out): http://neal-collins.blogspot.com/2015/01/exclusive-safa-statement-that-proves.html

And then, today, the whole ugly Mokotjo episode flared again, with news that Southampton were ready to offer £6m for the South African midfielder, responsible for 12 assists and one of the best pass-accuracy percentages in the Ere Divisie this season.

Having played under new Southampton coach Ronald Koeman at Feyenoord, the Saints’ move was predictable – but crucially flawed. Mokotjo fails on two fronts: the FIFA rule preventing a player representing three sides in a season (Zwolle, Twente, Southampton) AND the English FA ruling restricting footballing work permits to nationals outside the European Community if they haven’t played 80 percent of their national team’s competitive games.

And so we’re back to Mashaba. The man who was sacked in 2003 for dropping our European-based stars for a friendly against England. He’s done it again. By falling out with Mokotjo, for no apparent reason, the chances of Kamohelo becoming our nation’s most expensive footballer are severely restricted.

With Mahlangu set to move to Turkey – where restrictions on foreign players have been lifted – we must ask if Shakes has effectively ruined South Africa’s chances of having another Steven Pienaar in the near future.

Both Serero and Mokotjo are clearly good enough to play in the Premier League – or even Germany’s Bundesliga or Spain’s La Liga – but Mashaba’s attitude has effectively blocked that lucrative path both both men. He prefers to pick journeymen playing in the lower leagues of Europe or PSL "stars" some of whom can't even get a game for their clubs in South Africa.

One glimmer of hope remains. Gabriel Paulista, Arsenal’s new signing, was given “special dispensation” due to his age and the size of his transfer fee (£11.3m) and the UK Home Office granted him a work permit last month despite Gabriel’s failure to appear for Brazil.

If South Africa wants footballers playing at the top level in Europe, we must rely on such favours. Unless Shakes Mashaba – under pressure from SAFA to reconsider his selection process according to the Sunday papers – backtracks. Mashaba’s response: “I don’t think it’s necessary to look at these players again.” And on Robert Marawa's show tonight, a cryptic: “They can always telephone me.”

Shocking. I rest my case.