Steve Komphela: It was my decision to resign as Kaizer Chiefs coach

Steve Komphela has revealed that it was his decision to resign as head coach of Kaizer Chiefs, although media reports initially suggested that he was fired by the Soweto giants. 

The 50-year-old mentor tendered his resignation immediately after Amakhosi's 2-0 loss to Free State Stars in the Nedbank Cup semi-finals last weekend. 

According to Komphela, scenes of violence which saw 18 people, including security personnel injured, were enough for him to step aside.   

"Yes, it was [my decision]. To be honest with you, it was even made easier by the fact that you could see what was happening, and you felt, 'no, but no one deserves this'. When things fall apart, the first person who has to look at themself is yourself, and more often than not, our strength becomes our weakness," Komphela said in an exclusive interview with SAfm. 

Komphela denied that he had already planned to resign even before Chiefs travelled to Durban for their semi-final clash with Ea Lla Koto. He said he had himself prepared for the Golden Arrows encounter which came three days after their Nedbank Cup match. 

"Not really [I didn't plan to resign]. When I went to Durban, I had two sets of attire; I had one for Saturday [against Free State Stars] and I had one for Tuesday [for the Golden Arrows game]. There are certain things that happen in life; they happen so fast but you develop an ability to sift through them. Whether [or not] you find yourself taking the right decisions at crucial times where you needed more time to decide, and benefit of hindsight, you realise that, 'hayi Nkosi yami, I think this was a good decision that I took', because when you wake the next day or later, you check what happened, and you realise that, 'no, no, it was only proper to take such decision'," said Komphela. 

The former Maritzburg United said he discussed his decision to vacate his position with Bobby Motaung before announcing it to the media on the day, saying he could see the sense of frustration the Amakhosi football manager was going through as he informed him. 

However, he still feels it was the right thing to do in order to curb the fan violence he witnessed at the Moses Mabhida Stadium after the final whistle of their loss to Stars. 

"We were discussing intensily with him [Bobby Motaung], and you could see the sense of frustation he was going through, and I think one of the punchlines I threw was that, 'listen, whether we like it or not, at some stage, we have to be very objective and consider a whole of other things and put any other thing aside and just be honest. Sometimes, you have to face fire you don't like, but it has to be fire that you know that, this is the only way out of this. So, the best thing that I found for them [the fans] was that, 'listen, let me just step aside' if this means they would lessen the violence. Nobody wants violence, and nothing was solved through violence," added Komphela.