This left the FAZ in a quandary and when Zambia kicked off the 1994 Nations Cup qualifiers unconvincingly with Figge as Technical Advisor and Simutowe as coach, struggling to overcome Mauritius 2–1 at home and defeating newcomers South Africa 1–0 in Johannesburg, Ndhlovu bounced back into the saddle for the 1994 World Cup qualifiers with a convincing 2–0 home victory against Tanzania in Lusaka and a 4–0 win over Namibia in Windhoek. He also led Zambia to third place at that year’s CECAFA tournament with an 8-0 thumping of Zanzibar along the way. However a 2–0 loss away to Madagascar in a World Cup qualifier in December 1992 spelt the end of his reign as coach, only finding out when the FAZ announced in the press that he had been sacked and replaced with a new coaching team of Simwala, Godfrey Chitalu and Alex Chola. He said he was not surprised with the move charging that his dismissal was a fulfilment of a campaign pledge by the newly elected FAZ executive.