Comment by Malibongwe Mdletshe

THERE’s a Zulu saying that in a literal sense translates to English as “people never sway to any one single side like water would”.

One would’ve been reminded of this saying early in the week because of the different opinions, some pro and some against Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos’ statement when he boldly pronounced to the news-hounds ahead of his side’s last two Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Broos’ 2023 Afcon bronze-winning side play Group K table-topping Uganda in Kampala on Saturday afternoon (3pm kick-off), before returning home to Cape Town Stadium to wrap their qualifiers on Tuesday against South Sudan.

To quote the 71-year-old Belgian: “If we lost both games, five minutes after the game, I’ll be on a flight to Belgium, you can be sure of that.

“Sure, maybe not against Uganda, but if we can’t win at home against South Sudan, I am telling you that I’ll take the flight, and you’ll never see me back again.”

And those who criticised him for being arrogant, might have missed his supporting statement:

“It would be a little shameful for us if we don’t qualify for Afcon, honestly. We have the qualities, and we are bronze medallists.

“Can you imagine if the bronze medallists of nine months ago cannot even qualify for the next Afcon? I am not thinking about that! My confidence is big in this team, but we can’t accept the fact that we can’t qualify for Afcon.”

We have arrived in Kampala, Uganda, and we're now at the team hotel. #BafanaPride #AfconQualifier pic.twitter.com/pQgt8RAJKJ
— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) November 14, 2024

As cited above, this statement drew a cocktail of reactions as some “patriots” labelled him as arrogant, full of himself and even “delusional to the real Bafana” and so on.

And some of us who are maybe not so patriotic as the next guy found his remarks to be relevant, bold, confidence-inspiring, attitude-tuning and wisely calculated.

And here’s why...

Firstly, we can all agree that winning bronze should not be celebrated as that massive an achievement for a country like South Africa in the continental competition.

After all, it was Bafana’s second bronze after the one in 2000, the 1998 silver and the 1996 gold.

But if you consider that they are just one win away (and even just a point if you are willing to do the maths) to a rare consecutive Afcon qualification, everything changes.

Bafana have only achieved this feat once in 22 years and with different coaches.

In fact, one can argue, SA have not achieved this in the past 22 years since in 2013, they qualified by the default of being hosts after Libya found themselves plunged into a civil war.

Bafana qualified in 2015, but exited at the group stages in Equatorial Guinea. From then on, they were only going to make two qualifications: Egypt 2019 and Ivory Coast 2023.

Secondly, as much as Clive Barker is the most successful Bafana coach after winning Afcon gold in 1996 and qualifying for the first World Cup at France 1998, Broos stands on safe ground with a more than acceptable winning ratio – 19 wins and 13 draws in 38 matches.

Thirdly, even though Uganda lead Group K, they are ranked 87th by Fifa as opposed to Bafana’s 60th position. Not to mention South Sudan, who are ranked 172nd.

Broos’ Bafana have no business faltering against these two sides, and in fact, anyone who is patriotic enough can argue that this group of South African players have it in them to go all the way in Morocco next year.

That of course will also lean on the fitness of some stalwarts like Ronwen Williams and Themba Zwane, among others.