Complications in Helman Mkhalele’s coaching badges for Bafana job explained

By Benjamin Leshoro
24th October 2025

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos publicly backed his assistant Helman Mkhalele as his ideal successor following next year’s World Cup, having previously announced that the global showpiece in North America will be his final rodeo as a coach.

The Belgian will retire after that, following a highly successful five years in charge of the South African national team.

The only stumbling block, as Broos admitted, in Mkhalele taking over the top job is his lack of qualifications that are a prerequisite to sit on the bench as head coach as per CAF regulations.

“The only problem with Helman is that he doesn’t have the qualifications”, said the forthright coach.

“You can avoid that if Helman can follow the courses for UEFA Pro License because you need that as a coach of the national team.”

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SABC Sport has now ascertained what exactly has been the stumbling block for Mkhalele’s progress in his coaching education, and according to a well-placed informant who deals with such matters, his heavy schedule with the senior national team has ironically been to his detriment.

In 2023 the former Bafana speedy winger was supposed to take charge of the COSAFA team, but ended up being removed, with Morena Ramoreboli replacing him instead.

This was when it was discovered that he only holds the old CAF B license, which is now about 15 years old, and allows him to be an assistant, when he’s actually required to have a CAF A License to sit on the bench as a head coach.

This means that Mkhalele has to first enrol for a CAF B refresher course before even being allowed to enrol for the CAF A course.

The main issue has been that the courses are normally in session during the FIFA international windows, a time when he would have been in camp with the national team.

It was also revealed that he is too late now to enrol for the current intake that will be graduating in March 2026, who have already gone through two of the four phases of the curriculum.

This means he would not be able to do it even if he didn’t have the Africa Cup of Nations in December and January, and is also going to the World Cup in June.

Complicating the matter even further is the fact that there is currently no Technical Director at the CAF Development Division after Raul Chipenda left in August, meaning Mkhalele would have to rely on the Technical Committee of the continental body to use their discretion to enrol him based on working experience.

With time running out for the former Jomo Cosmos and Orlando Pirates man, it seems it would be a miracle if he gets his papers in time to be considered for the job.