Assistant coach and former goalkeeper Andre Arendse is calling for cool heads around the sour saga involving centre-back Mbekezeli Mbokazi reporting late for the Bafana Bafana camp, which raised the ire of coach Hugo Broos and dominated the team’s preparation ahead of the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) competition.
Mbokazi and several Orlando Pirates teammates were given grace by Broos to arrive later than Sunday, when Bafana kicked off their preparations for the biennial tournament that begins in Morocco when the host nation takes on Comoros on Sunday, December 21.
But Mbokazi informed Broos that he missed his flight from Durban to Johannesburg and would arrive on Wednesday.
Responding at a press conference to questions about the young star’s absence from training, a livid Broos remarked: “I will have a chat with him after training, and I can assure you, he’s a black guy, and he will get out of my room as a white guy.
“Because that I can’t accept. But I know why; I know why. Suddenly, Mbokazi is a star — he thinks he is a star. This is the attitude of a star, ‘I will decide when I [will] come’. I will explain it to him. I’m very angry, very angry about his attitude…”
Racism and sexism complaint
Those comments created a stinker, and the United Democratic Movement (UDM) lodged a formal complaint against the Belgian coach with the South African Human Rights Commission for alleged racism and sexism.
However, Arendse, the 1996 Afcon-winning goalkeeper with Bafana, told the Sunday Times the matter must not be allowed to distract Bafana from their preparation.
“Let me be fair to all parties concerned. I’ve not even listened to any audio around this and would not want to speak out of context by saying this one is right and that one is wrong,” he said.
“Either way, it is not a nice thing to be happening at this critical juncture. It is not a nice thing to be hovering around the team at this moment. We have pressing issues around preparation for this major Afcon tournament.
“This [Afcon] is a big thing for our players, for the fans who support the national team. We want to do that with our minds free of distractions of any nature. The focus right now must be on the team during this critical period of preparation.”
Class of ’96
The assistant coach at Betway Premiership side Sekhukhune United is optimistic the current crop of Bafana can emulate the Class of ’96 and win the tournament in which they finished in third place at the last edition in Ivory Coast.
“We have to find a way to support our boys to continue doing the excellent job they’ve been doing with the coach,” said Arendse.
“They need us to be right there behind them when they score every goal and make every tackle in their bid to bring glory to the country. My focus is completely on that objective because we’ve got something good going on in the field of play.
“We want new heroes coming out of this Afcoon, and we can win it. We can do it. The noise and all other things around it will sort themselves out.”
Bafana will wrap up their preparations by exchanging friendly fire against Ghana at Dobsonville Stadium on Tuesday, and leave for Morocco on Wednesday.
They will begin their 13th participation in the tournament that will run from December 21 to January 18 with a Group B clash against Angola at Stade de Marrakech in Ouhat Sidi Brahim on December 22.
On Boxing Day, Bafana will engage Egypt at Grand Stade d’Agadir and return to Stade de Marrakech for a final group game with Zimbabwe on December 29.
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