Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter believes that Rhulani Mokwena could one day become the coach of the senior national side.

It is for this reason, and because of his good work at Pirates, that Mokwena has been invited to join the technical team as an observer for the upcoming international break. The Orlando Pirates’ assistant coach will look to gain first-hand experience with the national side in this month’s four-nation friendly tournament in Zambia.

Baxter spoke during Tuesday’s squad announcement at SAFA house, where he hailed the former Mamelodi Sundowns assistant as one of the country’s best young coaches.

‘Rhulani is obviously one of the outstanding young coaches in the country. I would like to think he does have ambitions‚ and I would like to think that he can learn from the experience.’

Baxter also revealed that this could become a regular occurrence in future camps. ‘We want this to be a thing that we do more often. You can’t do it at every camp with a different coach pitching up. Maybe with some of the coaches, it will be a recurring thing.

‘I’m very proud and honoured to be the SA national team coach. But I think that it’s a part of my job and duty to empower those young South African coaches‚ the same as the young SA players. And maybe one day Rhulani‚ or Thabo Senong [Baxter’s assistant]‚ will be the senior national coach.

‘We won’t be asking Rhulani to put together the game plan so we can follow it. But we will be asking for his input. And I think‚ in the future‚ if he realises the talent he undoubtedly has‚ that it’s not impossible for him to be the senior national coach.’

Bafana will have their first training session on Monday before jetting out to Ndola on Tuesday where preparations for the friendly tournament will continue.

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