Bafana Bafana players came close to following Banyana Banyana to go on strike for the next two friendly matches, as they were not paid their bonuses for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match in June, iDiski Times has been informed.
According to sources, the association is in “a mess” and SAFA have been dealing with many issues in the past couple of months.
The issue of Bafana were the outstanding match bonuses after Hugo Broos’ boys produced a stunning defeat against Africa’s number one ranked side Morocco in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in June, which sealed their place in the AFCON finals next year.
“Bafana Bafana was ready to go on strike for these upcoming two friendly matches,” said a source.
Bafana’s two friendly matches are against Namibia at Orlando Stadium on Saturday (today, 15:00) and the other is against DR Congo also at the same venue in Soweto on Tuesday (17:00).
“Thursday night was a crisis meeting at Bafana hotel,” added another source.
“SoccerAfrica [the show aired on Thursday on SuperSport TV] was supposed to have a player. Then after 8pm, we were told it’s off. SAFA is just in a mess.”
Banyana, before heading to the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia, boycotted to play their farewell match against Botswana at Tsakane Stadium, saying the venue was not to the FIFA World Cup standards.
Other complaints were that Banyana players were not going to get bonuses from SAFA for having qualified for the World Cup, amongst other issues.
However, those bonus issues were sorted after an intervention by Minister Sport, Arts and Culture, Zizi Kodwa, with the Motsepe Foundation stepping in to donate R6 million along with ITHUBA, which pledged R2 million towards Banyana’s World Cup journey.
As Banyana became the first football national team in South Africa to reach the World Cup knockout stages, they are due to receive over R1 million each based on bonuses coming from FIFA.
It will be interesting to see what Bafana’s demands will be to SAFA ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations finals next year after their match bonuses of June were settled this late.
SAFA CEO Lydia Monyepao said she had little time to speak to the media on Friday as iDiski Times was keen to ask her about this issue.
