‘When you have him, you have a legend, coach, analyst and an expert in football’

South African Football Association (Safa) technical committee chair Jack Maluleke says Bafana Bafana legend Doctor Khumalo has been appointed to the technical committee because of his vast knowledge of this country’s football.

Khumalo, who was part of South Africa’s golden generation that won the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) on home soil in 1996, was elected deputy chair of the technical committee at Safa’s three-day national executive committee meeting in Sandton at the weekend.

Maluleke said the Kaizer Chiefs great brings much-needed expertise to his new position.

One of the key roles of the committee is to scout players at amateur level for the junior national teams. It is also responsible for recommending senior national coaches for the NEC to choose from and ratify.

Khumalo’s appointment to the committee, which has garnered much interest in football circles, was confirmed by Safa president Danny Jordaan after the NEC meeting. Safa also elected Linda Zwane, Natasha Tsichlas and Tankiso Modipa as Jordaan’s vice-presidents.

“You must remember that the technical committee should be inclusive. We also have former and current coaches in the committee because we need the brains of all people with the technical knowledge of what is happening in the football fraternity,” Maluleke said.

Khumalo had a sterling playing career as a midfield maestro mainly for Chiefs and Bafana, but he was less successful as a coach. Maluleke, though, is convinced they have recruited the right man.

“When we looked around, we had several names, but others are employed with different teams. Doc is a qualified coach and his contribution to football as a legend and coach triggered our decision to say he is the relevant person.

“We need such people to make a difference in the country. The reason we looked at him is that when you have him, you have a legend, coach, analyst and an expert in football.

“There might be others out there, but they serve different purposes and we felt the person who is correctly placed is Doctor Khumalo.

“Our job is mostly scouting and we look at players even though we cannot interfere. We send some of our coaches to those areas and if Doc is there we have a package.”

Maluleke said coaches at a lower level must take advantage of Khumalo’s experience gained over a long playing and post-playing career, as he will be interacting a lot with their structures during scouting missions.

Doc is a qualified coach and his contribution to football as a legend and coach, triggered our decision to say he is the relevant person.

—  Jack Maluleke

There have been questions about Khumalo’s coaching qualifications. Maluleke said the former Bafana star is qualified for the role they want him for.

“That’s why we felt it was the best decision to involve him. He has a Caf A licence. Other coaches that have been in the system [who are on the committee] are Bobbie Solomons and Goodman Mazibuko, who is a former professional football player.

“There are many others from the provinces and we didn’t look too much into the issue of qualifications from them. You must have three to four technical experts because most of the time some of us will be enforcing policy.

“In the main, if you enforce policies, you need former coaches to be able to see if they [the policies] are relevant and change the set-up.”

The technical committee will work closely with the office of Safa’s technical director Molefi Ntseki, who has extensive experience in football development and coaching at junior and senior level.