Shakes Mashaba fired after rattling SA soccer bosses

Controversial Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba was yesterday fired from his R500,000-a-month job.

The SA Football Association (Safa) made the announcement saying he had been found guilty of three charges, including gross misconduct and insubordination.

Mashaba started the job with much support, but by the end he was testing the patience of his bosses, players, media and the fans with his outrageous statements.

He started firing his mouth off early on, however, like when he complained about being labelled a cheap option.  

"I mean, two days after my appointment there was so much horrible. This one has really made me feel insulted - that I was the cheapest coach.

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I'm the cheapest coach. All the expensive coaches. Give me all the expensive coaches' records."

Mashaba's salary was slightly higher than the R450,000 his predecessor, Gordon Igesund, had been earning.

But it was considerably less than the R800,000 being pocketed by Pitso Mosimane, and it was nowhere near the World Cup-inflated fortunes paid to Brazilians Carlos Alberto Parreira (R1.8-million) and Joel Santana (R1.4-million).

"Put it here. I'm repeating it for the last time - give me the records of all the expensive coaches and let's put it here [and] go through it.

"Our football is down because of those expensive coaches. There will be times when we appreciate things and there will be times when we joke about things. This one I couldn't leave it.

"The cheapest coach when, club level or national, I'm the longest-serving coach and people haven't realised that this is what this man is doing."

Mashaba, who frequently admitted to not doing homework on Bafana opponents, contradicted himself at times.

At one stage he said: "I buy newspapers every day. Why? I want to hear your criticisms. They make me strong. If you criticise me because you think you're breaking me down, you're wasting your time. I take that and convert it into positives."

Then he said: "I don't read newspapers so I know nothing about that ... I don't read newspapers and with that I am not joking."

- TMG Digital