Shakes Mashaba has been kicked into touch as Bafana Bafana coach.
At 4.05pm on Wednesday, he received a call from the South African Football Association chief executive, Albert Mokoena, informing him that he was being suspended from his job with immediate effect.
Mashaba was told that he was in breach of contract and would immediately be suspended with full pay and benefits.
The Safa executive's decision has seriously disrupted Bafana's African Nations Cup plans. It comes three days before Bafana are due to play Mauritius in a first-round Cosafa Cup tie and less than two weeks before the team is due to leave for the Nations Cup, which starts in Tunisia on January 24.
Ten minutes after informing Mashaba of his fate, Mokoena told the media that, after "due and careful deliberations", the Safa executive had decided that Mashaba had "failed to monitor and identify all necessary player information for the national team". Mokoena said this had resulted in his selection of players who were "either injured or who had not played for their clubs for a period of time".
Mashaba also stood accused of failing to use his best endeavours to promote the national team, "resulting in some players retiring sooner than they should have".
After the phone call to Mashaba, a follow-up letter was to be hand-delivered to his home on Wednesday night, confirming his suspension.
Mokoena threw the coach a lifeline, however, saying the executive would consider reinstating Mashaba should he "remedy" his alleged breach of contract within seven days.
The writing, though, seems to be on the wall for Mashaba.
Mashaba's fate was already in the balance last week when influential Safa vice-president Irvin Khoza, uncharacteristically, publicly criticised him, saying the selection of Bafana's overseas-based players for the Nations Cup was "badly handled" and that Mashaba should have been more flexible.
Safa president Molefi Oliphant also waded in with criticism of the coach this week.
But his suspension would have come as a shock to Mashaba because, two hours before his sacking, he told a reporter that he was due to go into camp with Bafana on Wednesday night and would leave with the team for Mauritius this morning.
Now, however, Mashaba's assistant, Styles Phumo, will be taking the team to Mauritius.
Repeated attempts to obtain comment from Mashaba following news of his suspension were unsuccessful.