Mhlongo says SAFA blocked his route into coaching

Former Bafana Bafana international Benson Mhlongo says repeated rejections from the South African Football Association (SAFA) have stalled his coaching career.

Mhlongo, who moved into management after ending his playing career, has worked as both a head coach and assistant at Orlando Pirates, TS Sporting, Black Leopards and Cape Town Spurs.

However, the Alexandra-born coach believes his inability to enrol on the CAF B Licence course has prevented him from making further progress. He says SAFA has rejected his applications every season since 2018/19.

“SAFA have cost me a lot. Since the 2018/19 season until the recent one, I have been applying to do my CAF B licence. They always reject me,” Mhlongo told KickOff.

“I know it’s because I have always advocated for change. I would apply and, only after a month, I’d get feedback from SAFA, saying ‘The class is full’. How can the class be full when I was the first or second one to apply?”

Mhlongo believes his criticism of SAFA’s leadership may have contributed to the decisions, and accused the organisation of preventing former players from entering coaching and eventually taking up leadership positions in football.

“I want this leadership at SAFA to change because they are gatekeeping everything. Do we always have to go to the neighbouring countries to do our coaching licences?” he said.

“Is this their way of making sure we don’t participate in football? Is this their way of making sure we don’t make it to the leadership in future? They’ve had their time.”

Emails support Mhlongo’s account

After being asked by KickOff to provide evidence of his claims, Mhlongo shared email correspondence with SAFA. The messages related to his registration in Gauteng and included responses concerning his applications for the CAF B Licence course.

In one exchange, no explanation was provided for his unsuccessful application. In another, Mhlongo was told: “The selection process has been done and the class is full.”

A separate reply stated: “We have received tremendous amounts of applications and we focused mainly on head coaches as per the entry requirements that were stated on the advert.”

Mhlongo has previously spoken about his frustration at being unable to develop his coaching career, despite gaining experience with several South African clubs.

KickOff contacted SAFA to seek clarification on the eligibility criteria for the CAF B Licence coaching course. The organisation had not responded by the time the report was compiled.