Three victories in a row! This is what Pitso Mosimane has achieved since his appointment as head coach for Bafana Bafana. In the qualifiers for Afcon 2027, the wily tactician and arguably the best local coach South Africa has produced, Mosimane subdued a talented Guinea in a 2-1 result before slaughtering Eritrea 5-0 in the second game qualifier. To crown it all, in a friendly game, Pitso outfoxed the Pharaohs of Egypt in their backyard fielding a second class Bafana Bafana team devoid of the senior players that participated in the first two games. A good start indeed.
Mosimane’s whirlwind success served to quieten the prophets of doom who did not give him a chance even before his first game. Of course, Mosimane’s first stint as Bafana coach more than a decade ago was nothing to write home about. However, since then, Mosimane led Mamelodi Sundowns to unprecedented success and made it the top football team in South Africa ahead of giants Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. After dominating and conquering South African football, Mosimane bravely ventured into North Africa and the Middle East to mark his territory as a very successful coach beyond the narrow confines of South Africa. This explains why after the departure of Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, SAFA felt that the man was ready to lead the national team to greater heights.
Reflecting on achievements as Bafana Bafana coach post World Cup 2026, Hugo Broos opined that it was time Bafana Bafana won the Africa Cup of Nations again. The first and last time South Africa won the AFCON trophy was in 1996, only two years after a democratic South Africa. After thirty years of mixed fortunes, Bafana Bafana must claim the top spot on the African continent. This is the challenge for Pitso “Jingles” Mosimane for a variety of reasons.
African football has for a long time been dominated by North and West Africa. Egypt is still the most successful country for having won Afcon seven times while Cameroon comes second having been African champions five times. Other African countries in these two regions like Nigeria, Ghana, Morocco have also been crowned African champions. In East Africa only Ethiopia won it in 1962 followed by Sudan in 1970. In SADC, it was South Africa in 1996 and Zambia in 2012.
With South Africa as the economic powerhouse of Africa, it is indeed a shame that the country has never asserted itself in football on the continent. In Europe the giants of the economy are also the giants of football, England, Germany, France, Spain, The Netherlands, Belgium and so on. Football is big business in Europe and must be big business in Africa. With South Africa as the only country that has hosted the World Cup because of its economic power and infrastructure development, the moment to dominate African football has arrived.
The fact that under coach Hugo Broos South Africa reached the semi final of Afcon 2023 and the knockout stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup means that Bafana can do it. Having built a strong foundation of the national team under Broos, it is possible for Mosimane to take Bafana to great heights. Before Hugo Broos, South Africa was a punching bag for most African countries in the north and west of the continent.
However, with Bafana qualifying top of the group for both the 2025 Afcon and 2026 World Cup, the die is cast. South Africa has now earned respect on the continent and the world. It is under these circumstances that Pitso Mosimane takes the reins as the mentor of South Africa’s senior national team and must shine to usher in a new era of success and dominance. This is the moment for Mosimane to rise to the occasion and bring to an end the dominance of West and North Africa in football.
The first test for Mosimane is to lead Bafana Bafana to the finals of the 2027 Afcon to be hosted by East Africa. I hope this is Mosimane’s contract with SAFA. Anything less than the final will be a failure for the simple reason that in less than two years with Bafana, Hugo Broos reached the semi finals of the tournament in Ivory Coast in 2023. As a local coach, Pitso can do better as he knows and understands South African football. Pitso must do to Bafana what he did to Sundowns. Let the shoeshine and piano bring down all Bafana opponents in the 2027 Afcon tournament and claim the crown for Mzansi. The sky is the limit of Jingles.
