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DE JONGH NOT CHEAPEST BUT AFFORDABLE - ‘BOMBER’

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MBABANE – The National Football Association of Swaziland (NFAS) believes it took a responsible decision in hiring national coach Pieter De Jongh.


NFAS’ President Adam ‘Bomber’ Mthethwa was quick to say the Dutch coach did not get the job because he ‘was the cheapest option’.
He was responding to Times of Swaziland Sports Editor Lwazi Dlamini’s question, if they did not go for the cheapest coach available given the period spent in the recruitment process.


It had already been reported that most of the coaches who had applied and met the requirements wanted by the NFAS wanted nothing less than E200 000 monthly salary and De Jongh, by Mthethwa’s admission did not meet some of these requirements.


“It’s unfortunate we have a budget for Sihlangu and also one for the coach’s salary. When we considered the budget, we realised De Jongh was there and saw a man who wanted to improve himself so we gave him the job,” Mthethwa explained. He said they were adamant they acted responsibly in getting De Jongh but were also very appreciative of the concerns from Parliament, the media and the general public as it shows the national team belonged to the people.


He explained that when previous coach Harries ‘Madze’ Bulunga took over, the country ranked 180 but he managed to take it to below 100 in the world.


“We’re still in category C or C+ and at the doorstep of category B countries which we struggled to beat. We needed to beat Malawi at home to reach AFCON but could not manage that so it’s time we move forward,” he said.


He said this was a technical view of the situation but from a layman’s point, the previous coach achieved so much.

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