Bafana assistant Janesvki leaves, Safa appoint new technical director and three VPs

Bafana Bafana's coaching stocks have been reduced as assistant coach Cedomir Janesvki has left the men's national team to pursue greener pastures.

The South African Football Association (Safa) chief executive officer Tebogo Motlanthe said, on the sidelines of a Safa national executive committee meeting at Safa House in Nasrec, that the 61-year-old North Macedonian was enticed by an offer that he could not refuse.

Janevski, who represented Yugoslavia and what became the independent state of what was then known as Macedonia, joined the national team along with Belgian coach Hugo Broos.

Motlanthe said Broos, a former Belgian international who coached Cameroon to success in the 2017 men's African Cup of Nations, hasn't elected to find another assistant and will work with Helman Mkhalele, who was the second assistant.

Bafana has two friendlies lined up for next week's Fifa week, where they'll be playing Sierra Leone and Lesotho at the FNB Stadium on Saturday and Tuesday, respectively.

"He received an opportunity to coach overseas and after discussing that with coach Broos, we then decided that we shouldn't deny him that opportunity," Motlanthe said.

"We decided that, even though we have a running contract with him, we could release him. Also, the coach did say that he's also comfortable in having one assistant coach."

In what was the first meeting of Safa's newly elected NEC, they also appointed three new vice presidents. The individuals are Bennett Bailey from the Western Cape, Linda Zwane from Mpumalanga and Natasha Tsichlas from Gauteng.

The footballing mother body also announced that Walter Steenbok, a long-time scout and talent development guru, will be joining them as their technical director.