A divided house shall not stand, so does the Bible say and that fact is divine. Tom Saintfeit had a cool job in Namibia and parted ways with them after signing a cooler contract with the Zimbabwe national association, albeit amid in-fighting concerning his suitability. Like many of us who are not fans of foreign coaches who have come into the continent since World War 11 to impart their expertise to African coaches so that Africa can be self-sufficient-cum-reliant, the feeling that the trend will end 24 hours before the end times makes it a bitter pill to swallow.
Finally, he was appointed and is with us until yet another controvential expat signs another contract, again to impart his knowledge to local coaches. That having been a potential moral version of the excuse not to appoint the Belgian, we need to get closer to the truth. The actual truth is lethal, so we will scurry wide and long in the periphery. For Saintfeit, Namibia is a better footballing nation. That is also the opinion of FIFA statistics mechanism that provide the ranking. That is one motivation for Tom to cross the floor. Everybody knows that when it comes to football, even my Bafana Bafana rank below the Warriors. They have been COSAFA Champions umpteenth times.
The Far East betting syndicates have been biting deep into the Southern African nation football, injecting toxic cash that has addicted a few fellows in Zimbabwe. The issue set in the rot that saw a few football officers, players and journalists being questioned by the football authorities. The Far East money has no doubt been sweet, and may have had strings attached. This would be why the bone of contention over the coach's appointment may have lied. The problem with this assumption is that it would imply that local coaches are either corrupt or can be influenced. Given the two scenarios, a betting syndicate will surely prefer a local to an expatriate, all things equal. This does not mean the expat will not eat Nando's.
Events extrapolated to an extent that Saintfeit's stay in that country was deemed illegal hence he had to be deported. That was in line with the nation's immigration laws that state that he had to be outside the country while his papers are being sorted out. The work-permit is not guaranteed. Given the circumstances preceding his appointment, success will be a miracle, at least before Sunday's Cape Verde fixture in Harare. Perhaps, that will be enough for the parties that may desire to see the local coach in charge. There has been a few cases of expat coaches being fast-tracked to get on with their jobs and I am not sure if their cases were as pressing as this one.
That said, the Technical Committee in charge of Competitions and National Teams must be recommended to act above-board. In terms of coaching qualifications, Norman Mapeza struggled with the CAF C License course, but he had been at the helm of the Warriors. His co-assistant, Madinda Ndlovu was elevated to take over as the Warriors coach until Saintfeit papers are issued, if the application for his work-permit is successful. This pushes back any doubts of whether the deportation of Saintfeit was to benefit Mapeza. As it turns out, Mapeza is still playing second fiddle. It now remains to be seen how much support and input Madinda will have to do a better job.
As it is, Ndlovu will draw comparison with Mapeza, and anyone who knows Ndlovu will tell you he does not any bull from anyone. If he does well, there will still be a battle of who is the blue-eyed one. Mapeza did a respectable job with the Warriors in the last match in a 1-1 draw in Liberia. If Madinda wins and being more qualified and more experienced, will have a nod ahead of Mapeza for whatever contest anyone will want to place between the two. As far as I can see, there is no problem now and in the future between these professional men.
Tom Saintfeit's case does not help him as he had romped someone with links of the Far East's betting syndicates. The reports from The Chronicle stated that he had brought in a CAF/FIFA Goalkeeping specialist who had done time for corrupt deals in Singapore. German national Lutz Pfannestiel, who served a five-month jail term in Singapore and had a one-year worldwide ban from all football activities imposed by Fifa for match-fixing, was deported back to his native country. Maybe this particular leopard had changed it spots, I can not say. Tom may not have known that his friend was an ex-con with a lapsed FIFA ban. What would have FIFA said if Warriors goalkeepers were terribly off-form?
And to those who actually assume the deportation of the substantive coach was supposed to benefit Mapeza as an individual may be right, and if they are, and now that it didnt', does that mean the forces at work will feel heartbroken to derail the whole train just because it is not Mapeza in charge, or will sanity prevail that at least there is a cool head of an independent opinion who should have been there a long while before now? What do you think?
