Bafana Bafana head coach Joel Santana has resigned after 18 months in charge of the national team.
A SAFA committee meeting held on Monday came to the conclusion that Santana was no longer the right man to take the team forward, what with the World Cup a matter of months away.
And Santana appears to have walked before getting sacked by the three-man advisory team that was put together to assess the Brazilian coach.
South African Football Association Deputy President Shoes Mazibuko told Eyewitness News: "In the bigger picture and the interest of the country, he realised while he was doing his best, his best was not good enough."
Gavin Hunt, Jomo Sono and Clive Barker were asked to evaluate the clash with Iceland recently - a match which the team lost 1-0.
Santana has been skating on thin ice for a while now following a run of poor results, including eight defeats in nine matches.
A victory over Madagascar in that period was nothing to shout about and Santana is now without a job.
Assistant coaches Pitso Mosimane and Jairo Leal will take control of the national team until a new boss is appointed.
Hunt, Sono and Barker will undoubtedly be the front-runners for the vacant job, as it would be foolish to appoint another foreigner so close to the world's biggest sporting event.
A statement released by SAFA's official website reads as follows: "On Monday 19 October 2009 it was unanimously agreed between the Management Committee representing the South African Football Association and the Senior National Coach Mr Joel Natalino Santana, that Mr. Santana would, with immediate effect vacate his current position as Bafana Bafana National Coach.
"In the interim, the Management Committee resolved that Mr. Jairo Leal and Mr. Pitso Mosimane would assume the role of Caretaker Coaches, pending a decision by the National Executive at its meeting to be held on Friday 23 October 2009.
"The President of the Association Mr. Kirsten Nematandani thanked Mr Santana for his efforts to date and wished him success in all his future ventures. Similarly, Mr Santana took the opportunity to thank the Association, his Technical Staff, the Players, and the country for their support, and wished Bafana-Bafana every success for the FIFA 2010 World Cup."
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ntlakuso
"Hehehe!! This is scary. This is where the reality is gonna play out. If the next coach fails, then we all would agree we just suck."
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