Bafana Bafana?

I was saddened by the news that our very expensive and experienced coach Mr Carlos Parreira, from Brazil is leaving us. I must admit I was not excited initially by his appointment, but I guess I had gotten used to the fact that he was here and there was nothing I could do about it, so I was forced to accept him.
Fifteen months down the line, after we had made peace with his salary and the fact that our national soccer team was starting to make us proud, we heard the devastating news that he is leaving us. Well I must admit that if it is true that he is leaving us because he would like to spend time with his sick wife and the rest of his family, then that is a very noble thing to do. I don’t think there are lot of ‘men’ who would sacrifice their careers (soccer) just to be with their family. However, if that is not the real truth why he is leaving us, then all I can say is that the truth has a funny way of coming out, and it will come out.
The only that is frustrating me is that he has referred his Brazilian friend by the name of Joel Santana to take over, and to my surprise the ‘top dogs’ at SAFA are considering this man, despite his lack of experience as a coach. Even worse, they are prepared to pay him R1, 5 million a month. I find this to be pathetic. What about our local coaches? Are we so bad a nation that we can’t produce a possible replacement for this challenging job? Is it that bad, that we can’t find anyone to fill these shoes, is it so bad even in the whole African continent?
Surely, through enough research and collaboration, we could uncover someone with enough pedigree, experience and credibility to take our national team to the 2010 world cup. This has just reminded me of the seminar we had with Fiona McDonald when we spoke about leadership. It just made me question our traditional leadership style as ‘Africans’and wonder if we trust it. If we were confident enough with our abilities and leadership styles, then we would not be throwing our money around by hiring people who could not care about us as an African nation. I’m quite sure that finding a national coach would not be so expensive and would result in many advantages that would definitely bring back many returns to the whole nation, especially now when we are facing so many challenges as a country, such as the electricity crisis, food price hikes, politics and many more.
Come on SAFA, please remember that there is a lot at stake here and it is at times like these when we need to stand together as a nation and make wise decisions that will bring back our national pride. It is at times like these when we need to have one voice and make the right choices.