Exit looming for Shakes and Co

South African under-23 coach Owen da Gama and his under-20 counterpart Thabo Senong are said to be likely to be shown the door after suspended Bafana Bafana mentor Ephraim "Shakes" Mashaba's expected sacking this week.

The two junior national team coaches double as Mashaba's assistants at Bafana level, and they are expected to follow their boss as he makes his exit.

Mashaba is set to be fired this week after appearing before the South African Football Association's disciplinary committee on Tuesday.

According to sources, under-17 coach Molefi Ntseki is the only coach who will stay.

Da Gama and Senong's contracts are linked to Mashaba's agreement with Safa.

Da Gama - who took charge of Bafana on an interim basis in the friendly international against Mozambique on Tuesday following Mashaba's suspension - will not have helped his own chances by pledging allegiance to Mashaba.

He said he hoped that Mashaba would be restored to his position after his suspension.

"Continuity always favours whatever you are in," Da Gama was quoted as saying.

"So we would hope for continuity and not change things a lot. If a new coach comes in, he could change everything, and that could be more uncertain than continuity."

Mashaba's dismissal appears to be a mere formality, and the two parties are set to part ways 28 months into a contract that was supposed to end after the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Recordings of his many skirmishes with the media will be used against him.

The video clip of Safa communications official Mahlomola Morake and SABC journalist Kwena Moabelo desperately trying to pacify a seething Mashaba will now come back to haunt him.

Mashaba was suspended last week after he furiously wagged his finger at senior Safa officials - who included president Danny Jordaan and CEO Dennis Mumble - after Bafana beat Senegal 2-1 in a 2018 World Cup qualifier at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane last Saturday.

His utterances after Bafana arrived in Durban in October to face Ghana in a friendly international infuriated his employers .

Bafana had played a 2018 World Cup qualifier against Burkina Faso a couple of days earlier, and Mashaba was not amused that his team was not afforded a charter plane from Ouagadougou to Durban.

"If I take everyone back to the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, the reason we qualified is that we travelled on charter flights for all the games."

The comments put his employers in a tough spot as the charter flights he was referring to were hired in the months before Safa entered into a partnership with South African Airways, which flew Bafana to Durban.

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane, former Ajax Cape Town mentor Roger de Sa and Cape Town City's Eric Tinkler have emerged as strong contenders.

- TMG Digital