South Africa assistant coach Thomas Madigage has died in a car accident, the South African Football Association has confirmed.
Madigage died in the accident near Burgersfort in Limpopo, the country's northernmost province, in the early hours of Friday morning.
"We are shocked and at a loss for words and as we speak, we are on our way to meet the family and find out what actually happened," SAFA president Kirsten Nematandani said. "We would like to pass our sincere condolences to the family, friends and the entire nation on this shocking development."
Reports in South Africa claimed the 41-year-old died when his car hit a donkey in the road.
Madigage was appointed as assistant to national head coach Gordon Igesund in July after a successful 10-year spell on the staff at SuperSport United.
Igesund said: "I have known Tommy for many years, he was not only my assistant, he was much more than that. He was a friend.
"Since working together, he had become part of my family. You can't get a better human being than what Tommy was. He was humble, loyal, committed and sincere.
"He was so happy to be a part of the Bafana Bafana set-up and he had so much to contribute. He was so looking forward to the Nations Cup finals and it will be very difficult to participate without him. We will dedicate our Nations Cup campaign to him."
Madigage played for Jomo Cosmos, FC Zurich in Switzerland and SuperSport before taking up a coaching role at SuperSport. There he worked alongside Gavin Hunt, the pair winning the ABSA Premiership three seasons in a row and the Nedbank Cup last season.
"I'm absolutely gutted, absolutely devastated," said SuperSport coach Hunt on the club's website. "We were more than work colleagues, we were great mates off the field. We spent hours and hours chatting about life; not even football, more about life."
Source: PA
