Arthur Zwane is edging closer to a return to the Bafana Bafana setup, with SAFA revealing that progress is being made on a potential role for the AmaZulu coach.
SAFA deputy president Linda Zwane said the association is backing new head coach Pitso Mosimane’s vision as he assembles his technical team.
While he stopped short of confirming Zwane’s appointment, Linda Zwane indicated that discussions are moving in the right direction.
“We’re making progress with regards to that (getting Zwane), we support Coach Pitso. Whoever he says he wants as a part of the technical team, we’ll do that for him.”
‘10111’, as the AmaZulu coach was known during his playing days has emerged as one of the coaches Mosimane wants to work with as he begins his latest stint in charge of Bafana.
The former Kaizer Chiefs coach already has national-team experience, having previously been part of the Bafana technical team under Molefi Ntseki in 2019.
His coaching journey has also included significant work with the Chiefs development structures before he moved into the head coach role and he eventually went on to take charge of AmaZulu.
Linda Zwane believes that experience makes him a natural candidate for a role within the national setup.
“Of course I can’t say much about it (Zwane’s inclusion) but he is also here because of his work at Kaizer Chiefs juniors, he was also a part of the national team under coach Molefi Ntseki and now he’s doing great work at AmaZulu and if coach Pitso wants him, we’ll do that.”
The potential addition of Zwane would give Mosimane another coach with an understanding of the South African football landscape and experience working with players at different levels.
For SAFA, however, the priority is ensuring that Mosimane has the freedom and support to build a technical team capable of delivering his objectives.
“We know he needs our help in order to succeed but also we don’t want to be the reason if he doesn’t succeed.”
Meanwhile, SAFA has already completed the appointment of Morena Ramoreboli, who was confirmed last week as part of Mosimane’s Bafana technical team.
Linda Zwane explained that Mosimane specifically identified Ramoreboli as someone he wanted alongside him, leading SAFA to engage with the Botswana Football Association over his release.
“Coach Pitso also expressed that he is someone that he would want to work with and asked us to engage the Botswana federation and luckily we have a good relationship with them so it was possible.”
Ramoreboli has previously worked within the Bafana setup and was part of the technical team that won the COSAFA Cup during the Covid-19 period.
SAFA also considered him for a role with the national U-23 team ahead of the Olympics.
“But people must remember that we had also discussed bringing him in to take charge of the U-23s ahead of the Olympics so he’s someone we take very seriously because of his work.”
With Ramoreboli already confirmed, attention now turns to whether Zwane will become the next addition to Mosimane’s Bafana technical team.
