By Lenin Ndebele
By no stretch of imagination is former Highlanders coach Kelvin Kaindu an Alex Ferguson but the current coach Bongani Mafu surely is a David Moyes — not understood by some players, supporters and sections of the media.
One thing for sure Mafu has a short tempter. You know what they say: “temper does not build character, it reveals it”.
Having left Manchester United last season, David Moyes punched a man at a pub who had questioned his charges at Manchester United and the best way Moyes thought of answering was with a Pacman style punch.
Not that Mafu has fought anyone at a bar, but I recall an incident on the eve of his taking over Highlanders at a Bulawayo hotel where with a group of friends we sat by a corner partaking in wise waters.
Seeing that he had walked into the pub area alone, naturally we thought it wise to engage the coach in a social manner, give him some encouraging words and our supporters’ opinion of the team. We then dispatched a waiter to go and call him.
The waiter returned to tell us that Mafu had said we (the seven of us) should walk up to him if we really needed to talk to him. Wow! Nonetheless, for the record, we were going to buy him a drink.
But that does not mean if I come across him at a bar I won’t avoid his path just in case there is an uppercut waiting for me.
It turns out the Highlanders and Bongani Mafu affair is an arranged marriage. The husband, Mafu that is, really needed this wife but the wife was just forced into marrying him.
The husband may try to please his wife but if the wife and her relatives (supporters) don’t open up to him their love is doomed.
If I was Mafu I would know that right now it’s time for guerilla tactics. He should view his players, coaching staff and himself as fish and the multitude of Bosso supporters as the water. Without the water, the fish die and so the team dies. Just simple Cde Mao Tse-Tung philosophy.
Below are four reasons why Mafu should stay on at Highlanders, he might not get the chance to explain himself when those guys by the Soweto stand decide they no longer want him.
Bloody affair
We always complain that clubs don’t give coaches enough time, as soon as he comes under pressure “he must go.” Yes, his start record is the worst in a decade but remember just four months is not enough to built a mighty machine.
Bosso must relax
Personally I feel they should have not fired Kelvin Kaindu in the first place. During his stay at Highlanders, Kaindu always came second, his time was around the corner to clinch the championship. But they fired him like how most of us out there fire our maids. That created a crisis resulting in Bosso finishing 7th on the log with caretaker coaches. The point being the team risks the same predicament if they fire Mafu like a maid. As far as the league stands no one is clearly going to win it — it is too early.
Transfer period
Yes, the first half of the season is not a “sofarsogood” period for Mafu but the transfer window is coming. He has spotted a youthful player — Obert Tafira — let’s see how that goes. He needs people who can score goals to win matches and currently his team is blunt upfront. But with proof that he is really working towards a master plan give the man a chance.
Transitional period and a team that needs rebuilding
When Kaindu left chaos followed and as such Mafu inherited a squad not in the best of states. Worse for a team that had a shallow pool of youth talent, he had to shop around with a meager budget.
I could go up to 20 reasons, but Mafu’s biggest task at present is to rebuild. B Metro
