AmaZulu are rumoured to have fired the entire management of the club, including general manager Tshepiso Mofokeng and care taker coach Ayanda Dlamini.
Others who are rumoured to have been shown the doors are caretaker coach Ayanda Dlamini, team scout Ayanda Mkhize and team manager Qedi Dlamini.
The reasons for their departures are not known, but iDiski Times has learned former Orlando Pirates administrator Floyd Mbele might assume administration work at the club after he was seen having meetings with president Sandile Zungu. Another option could be former Royal AM CEO Sinky Mnisi, who has also been linked with a move to Usuthu after leaving AM in January.
Meanwhile, it is uncertain what the club’s intentions are for Romain Folz, who was appointed as the club’s head coach in October to replace Brandon Truter and then himself replaced by Dlamini in April, while redeployed as “technical advisor”.
Usuthu president Zungu previously told this publication that he was not happy with many things within the club, saying “there are lots of things that are going wrong at my club that I need to clean at the end of the season”.
There were also reports of alcohol abuse within the club from players and management, which Zungu was made aware of.
This publication has also learnt that Rally Bwalwa, Dumisani Zuma and Gabadinho Mhango, who all joined during the off season, face a bleak future with Usuthu.
Meanwhile, Zungu has called a press conference at 14:00 on Friday where he “will review the club’s 2022/23 season as well as unveil plans for the upcoming DStv Premiership campaign”.
This after the club finished in a disappointing 12th position in the DStv Premiership, which was far off Zungu’s top-four ambitions, leading Zungu to say he never thought he would ever utter the word “relegation” based on his ambitions.
AmaZulu, who reached the MTN8 final this season for the first time since 1978, ended the campaign on a whimper, losing the last two matches under caretaker coach Dlamini.
In the first campaign after Zungu purchased the club, AmaZulu finished second in the 2020/21 season under Benni McCarthy and qualified for their first ever CAF Champions League, but they couldn’t sustain or build on that based on a variety of reasons.
The businessman’s intentions this next coming season are to get back to those glory heights.
Story by Robin-Duke Madlala (@duke_robin).
