South African Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie has lashed out at the South African Football Association (SAFA) for failing to pay the national teams including Bafana Bafana and Banyana Banyana.
The Sports ministry had to bail out the under-fire SAFA by advancing them R5 million to settle the payments of both national teams.
Minister McKenzie said SAFA is doing a great injustice by not paying Bafana following their great showing in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The Hugo Broos-led team booked a spot in Morocco after finishing top of Group K collecting 14 points, winning four games and playing two draws in their six matches.
“SAFA is doing a great injustice to our football. Because once you don’t pay these players, these players qualified (for 2025 AFCON). There are two issues here that people don’t see; the fact that people deserve to be paid for work done, that is not happening. Secondly, what does it say about our country if you cannot pay? Countries that lost, they did not qualify have paid the players,” said the minister to SABC Sport.
The department is set to undertake a forensic investigation into the finances of the country’s football governing body to better understand their inability to settle the salaries of the players, coaches and other staff members.
“We need a forensic investigation done, not by SAFA but by us (the Department of Sports) of what is really transpiring. Why is it that rugby players don’t struggle for their money? Cricket players don’t struggle for their money. SA Cricket has got R800 million in the bank. How come SAFA cannot pay R4.9 million? It’s not right. So, for me, if I could fire them, I would have but I don’t have that power, to be honest,” concluded McKenzie.
The misfortunes of SAFA look to be mounting, in November Danny Jordaan who is the president of SAFA was arrested and charged with fraud for allegedly misusing R1.3 million of the organisation’s funds for personal gain along with SAFA’s chief financial officer Gronie Hluyo and businessman Trevor Neethling.
The trio’s effort to have the court case thrown out was unsuccessful and they are expected to be back in court in February 2025.