Pitso “Jingles” Mosimane has been recommended as South Africa’s next coach, but his return to Bafana Bafana remains uncertain while negotiations over his salary and backroom staff continue.
The South African Football Association (Safa) technical committee, chaired by Jack Maluleke, selected the 62-year-old after Hugo Broos returned to Belgium following five successful years in charge.
Mosimane wants to be paid R1.2m a month, the same salary understood to have been earned by Broos. Safa is reportedly reluctant to match that figure, with concerns inside the association that it could not comfortably afford Broos’s package.
The former Bafana coach is also seeking full-time contracts for fitness trainer Kabelo Rangoaga and performance analyst Musi Matlaba, two trusted members of his staff.
For Mosimane, the potential appointment represents an opportunity to complete a coaching career that has already delivered almost every major honour available at club level. He has won 19 major trophies with SuperSport United, Mamelodi Sundowns and Egypt’s Al Ahly, including three CAF Champions League titles, five South African Premier Soccer League (PSL) championships and an Egyptian Premier League title.
He also has two Fifa Club World Cup bronze medals.
The Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) trophy is the major prize missing from his collection.
Mosimane’s proposed return comes at an important time for South Africa. Qualifying for the 2027 Afcon, to be staged in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania under the name Pamoja, begins late next month. Bafana face Guinea at home before travelling to Eritrea a few days later, while November brings two matches against Kenya, coached by former South Africa manager Benni McCarthy.
Mosimane previously led Bafana between 2010 and 2012, but his tenure ended after a damaging failure to qualify for the 2012 Afcon, hosted jointly by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
After a 0-0 draw with Sierra Leone at Mbombela Stadium, the South African players celebrated with a synchronised dance because they believed they had qualified on goal difference. They had misunderstood the competition rules: results between the teams involved, rather than goal difference, were used to determine who advanced.
Niger progressed instead and Mosimane was dismissed.
That setback was followed by the most successful period of his coaching career. He took charge of Mamelodi Sundowns when the country’s richest club was experiencing an unusual decline, restored its domestic dominance and guided it to a first CAF Champions League title.
Under Mosimane, Sundowns became regular participants in the competition’s knockout stages, challenging the North African sides that had traditionally dominated the tournament. The Pretoria club was increasingly regarded as an equal of Al Ahly, TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tunisia’s Esperance, Algeria’s ES Setif and Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca.
Mosimane later coached Al Ahly, widely regarded as Africa’s greatest soccer club, and worked in Saudi Arabia with Al-Ahli Saudi FC and Abha FC. He also managed Al Wahda FC in the United Arab Emirates and Esteghlal FC in Iran.
Those experiences, together with his success in club football, have made him one of the continent’s most sought-after coaches. He has been linked with the national teams of Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana, although none of those moves materialised.
His ambition to win the Afcon has remained intact, despite those opportunities and his previous disappointment with Bafana. He believes the current South African squad, which qualified for this year’s Fifa World Cup after a long absence, can help him achieve that goal.
Mosimane also has a longer association with the national team than his spell as head coach suggests. He worked as an assistant to Joel Santana, who led Bafana at the 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup, and served under Brazilian legend Carlos Alberto Parreira at the 2010 World Cup. As a player, he won fewer than 10 caps for South Africa.
The only previous Bafana coach to win the Afcon was the late Clive Barker, who led the team to victory when the tournament was staged in South Africa in 1996. There is a belief within South African football that Mosimane’s experience since his 2012 dismissal gives him a serious chance of becoming the second.
A strong squad, but early problems
Mosimane would inherit a settled team rather than begin with a rebuild. Broos revived Bafana with successive Afcon qualifications and a historic run to the knockout stage of the recent World Cup.
The established core is expected to remain, with Ronwen Williams, Sipho Chaine, Khuliso Mudau, Nkosinathi Sibisi, Aubrey Modiba, Teboho Mokoena, Thalente Mbatha, Sphephelo Sithole, Oswin Appollis, Lyle Foster and Evidence Makgopa among those likely to keep their places.
A group of emerging players is also ready to compete for greater involvement. They include Mbekezeli Mbokazi, Ime Okon, Olwethu Makhanya, Tylon Smith, Shandre Campbell, Relebohile Mofokeng, Thapelo Maseko and Tshepang Moremi.
Mosimane will need to assess players who were previously on the fringes, including Ricardo Goss, Samukele Kabini, Bradley Cross, Khulumani Ndamane, Thabang Matuludi and Kamogelo Sebelebele.
Grant Kekana, Thembinkosi Lorch and Gift Links were repeatedly overlooked by Broos despite their club form. Brandon Petersen, Thabiso Monyane, Thapelo Morena, Lebohang Maboe, Patrick Maswanganyi and Brooklyn Poggenpoel were also left out of the World Cup squad.
However, Mosimane’s possible first matches would present immediate selection difficulties. Key defender Mbokazi, who is based in the United States, has been ruled out for the rest of the year by a muscle injury. That means Okon will need a new central-defensive partner.
Mokoena could also miss the opening qualifier against Guinea after suffering a serious ankle injury during MTN8’s quarter-final win over Polokwane City last weekend.
The uncertainty over Mosimane’s contract is already affecting preparations. It is unclear who is scouting players or putting together the technical and logistical plans for the fixtures against Guinea and Eritrea.
Under normal circumstances, the incoming coach would already be travelling around the country, watching players and speaking to PSL managers before naming preliminary and final squads. The players also need clarity, because a managerial change inevitably creates uncertainty and can bring significant alterations.
Mosimane’s most recent coaching job ended last year, but he has continued to follow the game closely. He researched and wrote a youth coaching manual, which was released last month.
If the financial issues are resolved and he signs the contract, Mosimane would take charge of a more mature and accomplished Bafana team than the one he left in 2012. His challenge would be to guide it through a difficult qualification campaign and finally secure the one major trophy still absent from his collection.
