As the Absa Premiership resumes this weekend from its Christmas break TimesLIVE has identified five coaches who should be looking over their shoulders for the administrative axe.

Roger de Sa, Platinum Stars

De Sa has brought fight to a Stars team who started the season in freefall under Peter Butler.

Stars' problems this season have been self-inflicted. The club could not recognise that Cavin Johnson had done a superb job, guiding such a young team devoid of stars to third and ninth in their previous campaigns. The untried, controversial former Botswana coach Butler's appointment as Johnson's replacement was farcical.

Under the circumstances De Sa did a fine job, pulling the parachute on a skydive, ending 2017 with five draws, three wins and two defeats from Stars' last 10 games.

But the North West team still has squad depth issues and an itchy trigger finger.

Bernard Molekwa, Polokwane City

Polokwane's former team manager and communications head defied all expectations as City's caretaker coach last season, where City ended the year placed sixth.

Molekwa continued to confound the skeptics as a full-time coach this season, as City reached the Telkom Knockout semifinals at the expense of Orlando Pirates, losing against finalists Bloemfontein Celtic on penalties.

With an experienced team of campaigners at Molekwa's disposal, perhaps the experiment is finally beginning to unravel.

Muhsin Ertugral, Ajax Cape Town

Ertugral's return to South African football will be fascinating.

Last season's bizarre four months spent at Orlando Pirates saw Bucs progressing decently, then suffering the 6-1 humiliation against SuperSport United in Nelspruit that prompted Ertugral to quit via an overnight e-mail to chairman Irvin Khoza.

But Ertugral is on familiar ground at Ajax, who he has coached twice before.

All Ertugral's experience will be called on to turn what has been one of the most pedestrian Ajax combinations seen, under predecessor Stanley Menzo, into a competitive outfit.

Steve Komphela, Kaizer Chiefs

Chiefs have just made a raft of quality January signings in Leonardo Castro, Siphelele Ntshangase and Kabelo Mahlasela, so Komphela should be smiling.

But after two-and-a-half seasons without a trophy, the club must be losing patience. The signings will only increase the urgency to perform, so they might just ramp up the pressure on the coach too.

Gavin Hunt, Bidvest Wits

The logic is that Hunt won a league and cup double last season, which consisted also of Wits' first league title in their 96-year history, and has added the Telkom Knockout this season, so the Clever Boys, and especially not close partner CEO Jose Ferreira, will never fire him.

That would seem a fair argument. Who out there can be better for Wits than Hunt? So surely write this off as a one-trophy season and rebuild for the next.

But it would be remiss not to include the name of the coach on this list whose team was in last place going into the festive break. That's an embarrassing position for league champions.

With their quality Wits should not stay there. But if they do, and fight a relegation battle, and if Hunt's restless nature is somehow perceived as having resulted in this, then who knows? Certainly, stranger things have happened.