Exclusive: SAFA Criticised for ‘Incompetence’ Amid Raymond Mdaka Bonus Row and Coach Certification Woes

Highlands Park under-19 coach Sifiso Mnguni expressed sympathy for the ill-treated AFCON under-20 winning coach, Raymond Mdaka, and told SportsBoom.co.za that the South African Football Association is, by nature, difficult to deal with amidst the recent chaos at SAFA. 

The Raymond Mdaka Situation 

South African Football Association President Danny Jordaan and his colleagues found themselves in a highly uncomfortable position during a recent court session, as they were called to account for pressing questions from the committee.

A host of different topics were put on the table at the court session, including the matter of the ill-treated Amajita coach Raymond Mdaka. 

Mdaka, a month ago, led Amajita to the under-20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) trophy, leading the team in what was an almost flawless AFCON campaign. 

Despite his heroics and that of his exceptionally talented youngsters, the South African Football Association failed to process the coach's bonuses, while they allegedly processed their bonuses as the administrators following the Amanita’s successful AFCON campaign. 

The matter was put on the table in court, and the administrators had very little defence for their actions and instead displayed very little remorse, a feat that has become synonymous with the sports administrators in the country. 

It was also revealed that Mdaka's salary is below R50,000 per month, a figure that just doesn't sound right for a national coach, while Hugo Broos, coach of the senior national side, receives over a million rand a month. 

In an exclusive interview with SportsBoom.co.za, Highlands Park under-19 coach Sifiso Mnguni expressed sympathy for Mdaka. 

After all, like Mdaka, Mnguni applies his coaching trade at the academy level, where he has won back-to-back Gauteng Development League titles with his Highlands Park under-19 team in Johannesburg. 

Mnguni, as an up-and-coming coach, highlighted that what Mdaka has had to endure is a demotivating factor to them as aspiring national coaches. 

"The people that want to be coaches will most certainly be asking themselves, is this really the treatment that the coaches are getting? Which is not good for our youth football or South African football in general," Mnguni told SportsBoom.co.za.

"The sad thing is, you can see that he's an old person; he's been around for a long time in football. My concerns are not solely about him as an individual, but more so about his family, his children and wife, that his name is in public like that and his salary has been made public information."

"So, for the mental state of the family and the children, I think that's the sad part, that we just know such things all over the media. And could this have been handled better? Yes, definitely it could have been handled better, but the situation needs to be solved swiftly and needs to be addressed by SAFA." 

Experiences with SAFA 

Mnguni revealed that they themselves, as academy coaches of the biggest clubs in the country, fall victim to the incompetent administration at the South African Football Association. 

Mnguni highlighted that they struggle to get certifications through SAFA due to SAFA's negligence and inability to communicate effectively.

"Dealing with SAFA is difficult. It's so difficult to go through SAFA. I've won the league back-to-back. I've been trying to do my CAF B licence, and I find it difficult, even if I meet all the requirements, but I find it difficult just to say, Can I just do this course? Sometimes I feel like you need to know someone at SAFA just to do this course," Mnguni told SportsBoom.co.za.

"To be quite honest, I don't feel like it's easy to get communication through SAFA. We are coaching youth football. I think we should be the ones who are prioritised for these coaching certificates because we need that knowledge so that we can develop better players. But if we find it this difficult to do a course, we won't reach our true potential," he concluded.