Former Golden Arrows head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has revealed that a potential move to Kaizer Chiefs was “blocked” before he eventually landed the head coaching role at Young Africans.
Mngqithi became unattached at the end of the 2025/26 season after unexpectedly parting ways with Abafana Bes’thende, despite guiding the club to an impressive campaign.
Following his departure, he was linked with several high-profile roles, including a move to Chiefs and a reported position with Bafana Bafana as an assistant coach should Pitso Mosimane succeed Hugo Broos, who has indicated his intention to step down.
However, Mngqithi was ultimately unveiled as the new head coach of Young Africans, one of Tanzania’s biggest clubs on Friday.
The experienced tactician has since confirmed that Chiefs were interested in appointing him.
However, he claimed the move did not materialise because someone spoke negatively about him during the process, resulting in the deal falling through.
“It’s a good project, I cannot lie and say it’s not a good project,” said Mngqithi during the interview with Thabiso Mosioa on Radio 2000.
“And I know Chiefs did have an interest in me, it’s not a lie but it never reached any fruition because there are people who also block these moves.
“There are people who always find a way to speak negatively about a person. The Chiefs one never even went into a point of terms or position because someone blocked it.
“It’s unfortunate that the person who blocked it I’m not even worried about it but is true that there was interest. Even recently there was interest.”
‘I even had talks with Kaizer Snr’
Mngqithi also confirmed that before he joined Sundowns in 2014, Chiefs were keen to appoint him and held talks with him, but the move never materialised.
“[I went to Naturena for presentation] before I joined Sundowns, even then Chiefs wanted me very strong,” he added.
“I’ve had very cordial talks even with Senior Kaizer Motaung. I know they have always shown interest in me but for whatever reason it hasn’t happened.
“But I’ve never had a problem with that because there are a lot of jobs in this planet.”