SAFA NEC member, Jack Maluleke
By: Refilwe Sebola
The South African Football Association (SAFA) has explained their side of the story in the Banyana Banyana saga that transpired over the weekend.
This after Banyana refused to play their sendoff game against Botswana national team at Tsakane Stadium in Johannesburg. A substitute team was subsequently picked in the last minute to play against a mighty Botswana side and got humiliated with an embarrassing 5-0 score.
According to SAFA NEC member Jack Maluleke their squabble with Banyana players began last Wednesday after their Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Gronnie Hluyo explained the FIFA World Cup financial incentive rules to the players.
It is alleged that the Banyana players were not satisfied with the FIFA World Cup incentive and wanted SAFA to add more incentives on top of what FIFA was already offering.
Maluleke said SAFA had already spent all the money they had on bonuses after Banyana won the AFCON and there were no more funds.
Furthermore he stated that the day after they had disagreement with the players over incentives SAFA received a message from the Banyana coach and manager informing them that the players had decided not to play the game at Tsakane Stadium because it was not up to the FIFA standard.
Upon hearing the news SAFA then explained to the coach and the manager that it was too late to make any changes at that stage because arrangements were already made and tickets were sold. It was an official FIFA game and according to Maluleke failure to honour it would have resulted in a fine not less than 250 000 dollars which when translated to rands could amount to more than R4 million. Maluleke furthermore clarified that “It was the head coach and not SAFA who came up with a plan to pick a young substitute team from the professional Hollywood bets league to honour the game”. The final issue that SAFA clarified was about the alleged Banyana’s refusal to play against Botswana.
Maluleke refuted Banyana’s claim that Botswana was not a suitable competitor for their final game since they are ranked way below them. “Their coach reminded them that it was Botswana who made them miss out on an opportunity to play in the Olympics in 2021. In Morocco, we only beat them 1-0 and many people were saying we robbed them. Botswana is not a weak opponent for us and besides it was a sendoff game” said Maluleke. SAFA’s efforts to secure South American World Cup opponents drew blanks after their target Chilli was not available to play and their alternative Argentina was already drawn in their group. Efforts to hear the South African Football Players Union’s side of view was not successful as their phone rang with no answer. Banyana were drawn in group G alongside the likes of Sweden, Italy and Argentina. They play their opening game against Sweden on the 23rd of July.