OPINION: Kaizer Chiefs should not have brought Baxter back
Rape is an everyday reality for many women in this country. Hiring someone who makes jokes about it makes you a joke as well.
Amakhosi coach, Stuart Baxter was coy in answering the question around the rebuilding of the team ahead of the new season. Picture: Anesh Debiky/Gallo Images)
Firstly, I still feel that Kaizer Chiefs should not have brought Stuart Baxter back after the unfortunate incident in India. He has apologised I know, but that doesn’t absolve him.
ALSO READ: Kaizer Chiefs coach Baxter apologises to SA for ‘rape’ comments
Saying it was stupid of him to make such utterances is fine, but the damage is done and cannot be undone. Rape is an everyday reality for many women in this country. Hiring someone who makes jokes about it makes you a joke as well. The problem is that neither Baxter nor Chiefs are funny in this instance.
Ease up. Lighten up. He didn’t mean it in that sense. I have heard it all. The fact remains that he went where no man should ever go, and we have allowed him to get back.
Anyway, that’s looking at his character, which I guess doesn’t matter. What matters is what he can do for the ailing Chiefs. Based on what they want to achieve on the field, he is the right man.
He seems open to new ideas and is always trying to bring in fresh and innovative ideas to the game. He has said that he will look at new ways to get the team going again like he did before.
What Chiefs wanted is someone who, while the focus remains to win things, will be able to mentor Arthur Zwane. Zwane has shown potential that he could be the man Kaizer Moatung has always been looking for.
He could not be given the team now because the pressure would be too much, and if things don’t turn around quickly enough, he’d have to go. Baxter has done that with Molefi Ntseki at Bafana Bafana. He groomed him.
Ntseki was able to come out of Baxter’s shadow when he left. He did fairly well, and had conditions been better, he would have qualified for the Afcon. That is why I believe Ntseki was brought to Naturena on Baxter’s recommendation or approval.
So, in that sense Baxter is the right choice for Chiefs at the moment. Gavin Hunt is a good coach and all, but he is not one to focus on technology and other aspects of the game. Like me, Hunt likes keeping things simple and doing what works without trying to complicate it.
