The South African Football Association have confirmed that the row between the association and Banyana Banyana ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup has finally been resolved.
SAFA and Banyana – supported by the South African Football Players Union (SAFPU) – clashed over the week over several issues, including the stipend payment structure for the tournament.
In addition, the state of Tsakane Stadium for Banyana’s farewell friendly against Botswana, as well as some questions around the technical team and apparel for the ladies had led to an impasse, which result in the World Cup-bound players not playing against Botswana.
Instead, SAFA quickly assembled a makeshift team with players from the Hollywoodbets Super League and SASOL League, which lost 5-0 to Botswana.
On Wednesday, Zizi Kodwa, Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture confirmed during a press conference that the Motsepe Foundation has stepped in the last minute to contribute towards Banyana to resolve the bonus issues.
What transpired from the press conference was that a major talking point was the discussion around performance stipends for the Banyana players, independent from the guaranteed $30,000 (R565,000) FIFA have promised each player partaking in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
While SAFA will receive $1.5 million (R30 million) to cover the travel and other costs around the tournament, the association were not allowed to take money from this pot for player stipends, as confirmed by SAFA president Dr. Danny Jordaan during the presser.
With SAFA struggling to find the additional funds for the ‘appearance fees’ for Banyana from the association – independent from the FIFA grants – it appears that that’s where the main issue was.
As a consequence, the Motsepe Foundation stepped in after a call from Kodwa to Dr. Patrice Motsepe, and provided the additional funds for the 23 Banyana players going to the World Cup, as well as the technical team, support staff around them and the three substitute players.
Each Banyana player will now receive an additional R230,000 as a stipend, thanks to the Motsepe Foundation stepping in and pledging R6 million overall, as confirmed by SAFPU president Thulaganyo Gaoshubelwe.
Motsepe Foundation co-founder Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe said they felt the need to step in because others were paying “lip service” over issues such as gender equality and equal pay.
“These are our champions, and we have to treat them as such,” Moloi-Motsepe said.
“We have to treat them as champions, they deserve it. They put their lives, sweat and blood for country and it’s very important they receive the support they deserve.
“We must stop paying lip-service to gender equality. We end up here because we do not do what we say we will do. It’s mostly rhetoric, we talk about it. But when it comes to doing we fall short. We can do more.
“Banyana Banyana are going to the World Cup and we should be proud of it.”
SAFA president Jordaan added that the players were within their right to strike, as it “is a human right” and also commended SAFPU for supporting the ladies to fight for their rights.
The Banyana player will now leave in two groups to travel to Australia and New Zealand, with the first group departing OR Tambo airport on Wednesday and the second group leaving on Thursday.
Banyana will kick off their tournament on 23 July against Sweden, before facing Argentina on 27 July and finishing their group stage against Italy on 2 August.
