Hugo Broos' Bafana side are set to face Guinea and France in two international friendlies on Friday and Tuesday.
Bafana currently have Evidence Makgopa, Victor Letsoalo, Fagrie Lakay, Bongokuhle Hlongwane and Lyle Foster to call on in attack.
"The issue of our strikers in the country is something I think we need to take a serious look at," Mphela tells KickOff.
"Our striker crisis is something that has been going on for too long.
"It's like goalkeeping, if your team is losing and your goalkeeper is costing you, you need a goalkeeper coach, why can't they do that with strikers?
"It has been a problem for a long time now, even with us when we were playing it was a problem.
"Even if it's not us former Bafana strikers, they can get whoever they want to get to coach the strikers.
"That's the thing they need to look at because they don't want to do the development thing.
"At the moment if you check our South African strikers I mean it's embarrassing, the guys are struggling to get into double figures.
"At the moment no one is able to hit the 20-goal mark, the likes of Makgopa has the potential but that drive needs to come from within.
"He needs to decide which level he wants to reach, whether he just wants to go to Bafana Bafana to make up the numbers or if he's looking at Benni McCarthy's record.
"He's got the potential though, but his runs and movement sometimes are a bit wild for a striker.
"But he will get it right with experience as times goes on to know where to go and when to go, and obviously we will judge him with goals.
"I've seen him missing a few sitters, if you don't score goals then you can't represent the national team, it's been always like that.
"He must start positioning himself very well for him to score goals.
"But if I say now he doesn't deserve to be with Bafana then who are we gonna call?
"It's the coach who understands his players, each coach has his own players, I remember the almost same thing that happened with me during Pitso Mosimane's era.
"Okay we do have Victor Letsoalo, but maybe he is not the preferred choice of the coach."