Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter has revealed why Helman Mkhalele has formed part of the national side’s technical team for the Cosafa Cup.

Mkhalele will be in Polokwane for the ABC Motsepe League playoffs, working as a scout. While he is there, the former Bafana wing will join the senior squad’s technical team for the Cosafa Cup, which kicked off yesterday.

Baxter unsuccessfully tried to bring in Orlando Pirates assistant coach Rhulani Mokwena for the Four Nations tournament in Zambia in March.

Baxter is looking to bring in a number of younger coaches to the national team, with the intention of helping them grow as coaches which will strengthen the country’s footballing set-ups.

Baxter has revealed that this is something they want to do regularly in the future.

‘The last camp we were going to invite Rhulani on because one of the things we wanted to implement going forward was that the young up-and-coming coaches will be invited to attend the camp, not so much to be an assistant coach, but would attend for his own encouragement and as a reward for doing well,’ said the former Kaizer Chiefs coach.

‘We wanted to start that and Rhulani was the one identified, but we could not get him. So we said “let’s look within the organisation” and we said “let’s get Helman”.

‘Now Helman is going to be up there [in Polokwane] doing some scouting for the ABC Motsepe League, but we are going to bring him in camp and he will be part of it for four days. We are starting this process and we are starting it from within this time. Hopefully we will do this regularly. It’s about rewarding and empowering people.’

Baxter says he will be expecting Mkhalele, who is a national U20 assistant coach, to motivate the young players in the Bafana squad.

‘I’ll be expecting him to put his arm around those younger players and give them some good advice about how you take care of yourself and about how you approach your job because he was a good professional as a player,’ concluded the Bafana boss.