By Rex Mphisa
A Beitbridge bred man, who even went to the Beitbridge Government Primary School, has been drafted into South Africa’s senior men’s soccer squad for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Tinashe-Shingai Mukandatsama, a match analyst with Mamelodi Sundowns, is part of the Bafana Bafana technical team.
The appointment was confirmed by the South African Football Association (SAFA) on its sitesnWednesday.
The association said on their website: “Senior Performance Analyst Sinesipho Mali will also not be alone in Morocco as Under-20 World Cup analyst Tinashe-Shingai Mukandatsama has joined his department.”
Bafana Bafana are in Group B at AFCON, where they will face Egypt, Angola, and Zimbabwe.
They play their first match of the continental tournament against Angola on December 22.
South Africa will face the Warriors in their final Group B game on December 30.
Born in Bulawayob in 1993 Mukandatsama moved to Beitbridge with his parents in 1994 .
Then, his father had assumed pastoral duties at Beitbridge Baptist Church.
Mkandatsama was one of the pioneer ECD pupils at Baptist Preschool when it was established in 1998.
He later enrolled, attended and completed his primary education at Beitbridge Gvt Primary School.
For his secondary education, he went to Midlands Chistian College, where he was in the debating club and a member of the senior school soccer team he later captained.
He hen studied Law at Midrand Graduate Institute in South Africa.
That is where his interest in soccer coaching deepened, which led him to attend coaching clinics, which helped him to coach the girls team as well as being the assistant coach for the Institute’s soccer team.
After completing his studies, he worked in the corporate world but continued his football coaching shapening his skills by attending coaching clinics and eventually became a qualified CAF B Coaching licence holder.
He then left the corporate world and joined Sekhukhune soccer club, where he became the senior team analyst until he joined Sundowns in 2024.
He has also become the SA under 20 South African national team’s analyst.