Simo Dladla has outlined how his stay with Venda Football Academy turned sour due to alleged interference in selections and not following orders to prioritise local Venda players.
Dladla was appointed at VFA in October 2022 but was then suspended in February 2023 just a few months into the job leaving Joel Masutha to then take over.
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The suspension ultimately led to the Motsepe Foundation Championship club parting ways with Dladla.
"There was serious management interference at that club," Dladla alleges to KickOff.
"When I got there the team wasn't in a good space but after the team had been stabilised, we started being told that the team must prioritise players from Venda.
"I was told that they want more Venda players on the field, but I refused to work like that because even when I was in eThekwini, I never ever said we should only use players from there.
"I had players from everywhere and different races so I couldn't coach football based on tribes and where one comes from.
"To me players are selected on merit but in that team, there were players that you couldn't take out of the team because they are from the same village as the chairman.
"I was told the other players are kids of the chief and so their concept is to prioritise rural people from where they are funded which is why they are called Venda Academy.
"We then had a lot of disagreements about that which led to my suspension based on professional misconduct.
"I had nothing against local boys but if they are not up to it then it affects the performance of the team.
"I was then accused of being someone who doesn't listen, but all of this was new to me, and I wasn't keen to endorse players guys from Venda.
"In their eyes I didn't play the guys from Venda because I wasn't from Venda.
"During the World Cup break I prepared the team and after the break we collected eight points from 12 and as soon as we moved up the standings, they started wanting to impose their mentality of wanting Venda players.
"Even in the technical team there was now a division because they were using Masutha who they brought in because they said they wanted someone who speaks Venda since they players from rural Venda.
"The issue was that since I spoke to those players in English not all of them understood me so they needed someone who they could understand since they are from rural Venda.
"It was pathetic of them to bring Joel, but I couldn't stop them.
"In coaching you must choose to either be a puppet or a coach who is independent in his thinking and the way he works.
"But with me I have always been independent from Real Kings without anyone controlling me, so I applied my mind and did what I felt was right for the team.
"Even at Richards Bay it was the same.
"At Venda things started to fall apart when they started interfering.
"My suspension then came after the Baroka game which wasn't even my team running.
"I was already frustrated but just couldn't resign because it would have meant I pay two months as per the agreement which I couldn't.
"But then I had to tell them that I couldn't work like this because players can see that I'm no longer the one in charge.
"My last three games there I wasn't even in charge because they were now enforcing what they wanted which I felt wasn't working for the team.
"I'm not in football to promote tribalism and at one time I was told that 'we now have four Zulu players in the starting team because we have a Zulu coach'.
"I was reminded that this is a Venda team.
"Yet all those Zulu players were in the team based on merit and it benefitted the team.
"By that time there were local people singing in the stands that Dladla must go home regardless of results because Zulu people are disrespectful, and they call us amakwerekwere (derogatory term for a black African immigrant)
"For me, it was the first time to experience such, and I felt all of this was constructed for me to end up leaving.
"I was never disrespectful to them but just made it known that with all my experience as a coach, I have never been told who to play.
"They just wanted to control everything and for me, I couldn't accept that.
"I was then seen as a stubborn person who didn't want to accept what they wanted to do.
"Eventually I was seen as a rude person.
"The owner of the club asked the players in the changeroom if they don't like me and if they don't then he will fire me.
"I felt like it was disrespectful.
"I felt like it was defamation of my character there because I have always known that I will never fail if I'm given the platform to do my work and do what I think is good for the team and the league," details Dladla.
Venda Football Academy couldn't be reached for comment.
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