Orlando Pirates legend Jerry Sikhosana has appealed to the South African Football Association (Safa) to consider giving Ephraim "Shakes" Mashaba his job back.
British trainer Stuart Baxter, who replaced Mashaba as Bafana head coach in May, 2017, failed to guide South Africa to the 2018 Fifa World Cup finals.
This was after Bafana were beaten both home and away by Senegal in their last two matches in their qualifying group.
"I will support a move to have Bra Shakes back as the head coach of our national team," Sikhosana told Times Live.
"Looking at the way the boys were committed and playing under him, you could tell we were heading in the right direction until he was fired," he continued.
Bafana began the World Cup qualifying campaign very well under Mashaba's guidance - recording a draw with Burkina and a win over Senegal.
But Fifa ordered a replay for the clash between Bafana and Senegal after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld the lifetime ban of match referee Joseph Lamptey, who was in charge of the game.
Shakes was fired by Safa after being found guilty of gross misconduct and insubordination last December.
"In my honest opinion we had the best coach in Bra Shakes. He understood the players and they wanted to play for him," the retired player added.
"He was sacked because of problems that did not have much to do with football," he concluded.
