Comment by Herman Gibbs
The morally repugnant state of South African football was underlined this week when the unpaid salaries of national team players came under the spotlight.
On the one side, there is a cash-strapped Safa, and on the other hand, there is Safa’s special member, the cash-flushed Premier Soccer League, who has just lavished a R2 million gift on one of its chairmen.
Safa are the country’s governing body of football, and are responsible for paying national team players.
The payment includes appearance and bonus fees. They are also responsible for the travelling, hotel and medical services bills.
Lately, Safa could not pay Bafana Bafana and Banyana Banyana players, and the matter was brought out in the open last month.
In recent weeks, they stepped into uncharted territory by providing charter flights for teams travelling to away matches at great expense.
The Bafana Bafana and Banyana Banyana team management were delighted with the arrangement, and said it has contributed to the teams’ success.
However, it has also helped to empty the coffers.
PSL chairman Irvin Khoza presented fellow Exco member Kaizer Motaung with an R2m gift at a league general meeting last month.
Khoza announced that he unilaterally decided on the gift. It comes at a time when Fifa have slapped some PSL clubs with punitive measures for not paying players.
At this time, many PSL clubs are living a hand-to-mouth existence, even though they receive a monthly allowance of just over R2m from the PSL.
Over the past decade, there have been club owners who look to sell their clubs year after year. Many battle to cope with the high costs of running a professional club.
The matter of unpaid salaries of national team players caught the eye of Gayton McKenzie, the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture.
He decided to dig into government coffers and ease the plight of national team players by ensuring that salaries could be paid ahead of the festive season.
The R5 million advance amounts to 70% of the money Safa receive from government as an annual grant. Safa also receive grants from world governing body Fifa.
I couldn’t sit and watch our players not being paid over festive, we advanced 5 million rand to be used to pay all Bafana & Banyana players including their bonuses. We also demanded a turnaround strategy from @SAFA_net , our players made us proud. pic.twitter.com/N7ttdVEuUJ
— Gayton McKenzie (@GaytonMcK) December 12, 2024
It was a wonderful gesture, but one wonders how else Safa would have solved this problem.
Their biggest problem is that as an organisation, they don’t generally appeal to the corporate world.
As a result, they do not attract many sponsors, even though the national teams are doing well.
The South African Football Players Union (Safpu), a trade union representing football players in Mzansi, welcomed the intervention by McKenzie.
They hope the money will be handled carefully and reach its intended recipients.
“Despite the reduction in our financial resources that have dwindled recently due to the tough economic climate in the country and other reasons beyond our control, the Association has not stopped investing significantly in the preparation and participation of competitive South African national teams on the international stage (from Under-15s to senior men and women) that have continued to make the country proud,” said Safa CEO Lydia Monyepao.
Safa thanked the sports department in a statement this week.
“Safa has indicated to the department that much of these financial issues have emanated from insufficient sponsorship revenue, among other reasons. Both teams have had to utilise charter flights during their respective qualifying campaigns, and these came at considerable cost to the Association.
“Unfortunately, our sponsorship funding which we heavily rely on, has not been sufficient in recent times to see us meet our monthly obligations, over and above other costs that arise due to the hosting and participation of our national teams in international competitions.
“The organisation’s financial turnaround strategy, which is looking to cut costs and increase revenue, will be presented to Minister McKenzie after Safa’s next national executive committee meeting.”