BAFANA Bafana’s coach Hugo Broos has muddied the waters.
This follows remarks he allegedly made towards the young, former Orlando Pirates defender Mbekezeli “TLB” Mbokazi and his agent Basia Michaels.
The (20) has since signed a contract with US club Fire, that necessitated such comments, after arriving late at training in Pretoria, in preparation for AFCON in Morocco kicking-off later this month.
According to those close the Broos, he lamented he will have a meeting with Mbokazi over missing the flight, and the player would go into the discussion “black” and leave “white”.
“I will have a chat with him after training and I can assure you, he’s a black guy and he will leave my room as a white guy,” Broos said on Wednesday, that has rubbed South Africans the wrong way.
The coach apparently referred to Michaels as a “nice little woman who is his agent”.
A source close to Broos, who did not want to be named, said he meant Mbokazi would be leave the meeting “white” (pale with concern) from having been read the riot act. They said the coach referred to Michaels in the manner he did because the Belgian’s use of English is not perfect.
But that did not sit well with political party United Democratic Movement, resulting in lodging a complaint with the Human Rights Commission.
The party’s MP Nqabayomzi Kwankwa on Thursday, was quoted on his facebook: “We have lodged a formal complaint with the Human Rights Commission against coach Hugo Broos for his racist and sexist remarks directed at Mbokazi and his agent, Basia Michaels”.
“Racism and white supremacist attitudes have no place in our society and we will not tolerate them from anyone, including the Bafana Bafana coach.
We have also written to Safa [the South African Football Association] to express our deep concern and disgust at his comments.
“Hugo must be held to account for his utterances.”
The UDM has asked the commission for “an independent investigation” and to “issue appropriate recommendations to ensure accountability [and] corrective measures”.
SAFA confirmed it will not comment on this matter.
This might, one way or the other, affect preparations for Bafana as they take off to Morocco and the US WC in 2026, respectively.
They take on Ghana at Dobsonville Stadium, a last friendly game nextTuesday, before heading out on Wednesday to face Angola in their opening AFCON match on December 22.
Image provided (Muddied the waters. Bafana coach Hugo Broos is alleged to have used racist remarks towards Mbokazi and agent).
