Many South African football fans have expressed frustration over the appointment of "unknown" Molefi Ntseki as the new coach of the national team Bafana Bafana. I can understand their frustration: Ntseki is not known for any achievement as a football coach at a high level.
Though I have seen him being interviewed on TV, I can't say I know his voice. His outlandish dress sense, as seen in the picture above, has not helped endear him to shocked fans. One friend of mine on social media expressed fear for Ntseki, saying his shirt and jacket, and furrowed shaven head, reminded him of fierce Basotho cattle rustlers operating in Eastern Cape highlands just over the border from Lesotho.
Granted, Ntseki has never coached a team in SA's premier league, or in another league anywhere in the world. But referring to him as unknown is a tad over the top, a decription used merely for promoting the so-called shock over Ntseki's announcement than entertaining any logic over his appointment.
Ntseki is not new to the national football set-up in SA. I guess this will not console the "shocked" masses but the big Free Stater had been part of the technical team of the previous Bafana coach, Stuart Baxter.
So how did he get here, so quick as, some suggest? In 2014 he was appointed SA under-17 coach and the following year he and his team finished runners-up at the Afcon Under-17 tournament but that was enough for South Africa to qualify to the U17 World Cup in Chile.
But the story of Ntseki's coaching career is longer. He developed the passion during his days as a teacher, coaching school and community teams in Free State. His progress was spotted by a specialised sports school called Harmony Academy in Virginia near Welkom, which recruited him in the early 2000s. By 2005, under Ntseki's directorship of coaching, Harmony had won all national schools and youth championships in the country.The same year, after winning the MTN Trophy, four of his boys were selected for the Ussasa/ Under 16 national team, while Ntseki was appointed the coach of this team.
He was appointed assistant coach to Serame Letsoaka for the SA U20 team, which went all the way to reach the quarterfinals of the 2009 Fifa U20 World Cup in Egypt. Ntseki also served as assistant coach to Shakes Mashaba in the SA Olympic squad (U23).
His club coaching career at elite level only started in 2010, when he joined Bloemfontein Celtic as assistant coach but he also headed the club's youth programme.
After returning to Safa [SA Football Association] structures in 2014, there was no looking back until just last year (2018) when Ntseki was promoted to the senior national team, as assistant to Baxter together with Thabo Senong, who last week was revealed as the new Lesotho coach.
It must be noted the youngsters who went through Ntseki's big hands include Keanu Cupido, Reeve Frosler, Teboho Mokoena, Kobamelo Kodisang, Sipho Mbule and Wiseman Meyiwa, whose career was halted by a car crash last year.
The 50-year-old mentor was born in Botshabelo, some 45km east of Bloemfontein. He never played football at elite level, but did reach the second tier playing for Welkom Stars. It's not surprising that SA football followers don't know much about him because South Africans largely do not bother about happenings in the development level. But Safa is concerned that its youth programmes, including the much-vaunted "Vision 2020", are not bearing fruit at senior level.
The SA youth have been doing well in the past decade, qualifying for African and world final tournaments on regular intervals. The rise of these players to the senior level had not been so smooth, largely thwarted by clashing ambitions of senior national coaches who trust senior players than being bothered with promoting youngsters.
Safa's biggest reason for appointing Ntseki as Bafana Bafana coach is that he is the man they can trust to finally drive a clear progression of youth players from junior ranks to the senior team. This one factor has proven to be a bit of rocket science for SA football, even after the country's Olympic side performed wonders at the 2000 Sydney Games.
So Ntseki is finally the right man for floundering Bafana Bafana? Time will tell; it's up to him and how his players respond to him. But above all, results shall matter the most. Give the man a chance, despite his dress sense.
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