MASHABA COURT ACTION POSTPONED
South African coach Ephraim Mashaba took the country’s football
association to court on Tuesday in an effort to reclaim his job
before the start of the African Nations Cup finals.
But his urgent interdict in the Johannesburg High Court was postponed
until Thursday, throwing the preparations for the South African
side into further turmoil before their scheduled departure for
Tunisia on Friday.
Mashaba was attempting set aside a seven day suspension handed
to him by the South African Football Association last Wednesday
(CORRECT) for allegedly breaching the terms of his contract, including
failure to monitor the form of the country’s foreign-based footballers
and failing to promote the image of the association.
Mashaba argued in court papers that the suspension made it impossible
“for me to comply with contractual requirements to remedy the
alleged breaches”.
The coach had been told to change the composition of the squad
he named for the tournament last month, which omitted many of
the country’s key foreign based players but did include the English-based
striker George Koumantarakis, the Preston North End striker who
has been out with injury since March.
But while the issue of Mashaba’s position still has to be thrashed
out, South Africa have only until Wednesday midnight to submit
their final list of players for the tournament to the Confederation
of African Football.
Koumantarakis has been dropped from the list and there are injury
doubts around Steven Pienaar, the Ajax Amsterdam midfielder.
Attempts to persuaded FC Porto striker Benni McCarthy and Charlton
Athletic’s Shaun Bartlett to go back on their premature international
retirement have also been rejected by the players.
South Africa are in group D at the Nations Cup finals along with
Nigeria, Morocco and Benin, who they play in their opening game
on January 27.