Tokelo Rantie deliberately refused to turn out at a training camp yet remains part of the squad, Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba has claimed.

The striker, who is set to face disciplinary action from Safa, failed to report to the national team ahead of the side’s World Cup qualifier against Burkina Faso. Having recently quit his Premier League club Bournemouth to link up with Turkish side Genclerbirligi in the transfer window,  Mashaba admitted the act had been an offense.

‘Tokelo … I don’t want to say he misbehaved, but he did,’ Mashaba told KickOff.

‘[Safa team] manager Barney Kujane sent the call-up to his club, which they accepted and then released him. But after coming down here, the manager phoned him all over the country and couldn’t find him.’

Mashaba admitted the side had tried to contact the star but that he had avoided them.

‘[We] eventually found him at 11pm and he still said he was coming, yet he was diving and ducking. So I said to the manager, “let’s go on because this might kill the spirit”.

‘You know in football, one other thing the media don’t understand … a player is not there to be a player because he is a good player, but he has to be good in the dressing room as well.’

Mashaba concluded by adding that Rantie would remain part of the national team setup and thereby be eligible for future call-ups unless otherwise specified by Safa.