Pirates not releasing Rulani Mokwena to join Bafana

Baxter had invited Mokwena to the national team as his assistant for the four nations tournament set to kick-off in Zambia this week.

Baxter says he suspects that the reason why Pirates did not release Mokwena was because they [Baxter and Safa] did not communicate properly with Pirates about calling him up to the national team.

“The warning time for us to know that we are leaving to know that we are taking part was very very short, and what that has done is made the lines of communication also a little short and it is possible that protocol was not followed 100%, so in this moment in time Rulani will not be taking part in our camp,” explained Baxter.

“We understand the situation at Pirates, and we just want everybody to know that the intention was to bring a young up and coming coach to the camp and give him that experience and that was a positive gesture. I think all parties would like to readdress that in the future.”