The South African Football Association’s (Safa’s) appearance before the sports portfolio committee in parliament descended into farce on Tuesday, with national executive members openly engaging in verbal warfare, and MPs left gasping in disbelief at the prevalent enmity at Safa House.
The main sticking point was the mooted implementation of the video assistant referee (VAR) system, which the sports department, led by minister Gayton McKenzie, has proposed be trialled in next year’s Nedbank Cup semifinals.
But interestingly, as some MPs pointed out, the PSL, which runs the Nedbank Cup, was not part of the initial consultations over VAR, with only the sports department and Safa involved.
“How can a tender [for VAR] be issued without the main stakeholders – the PSL – having an input?” MP Faith Muthambi asked.
The meeting, which was held virtually, saw Safa CEO Lydia Monyepao apparently repeatedly losing connection just as she was about to respond to key questions. Linda Zwane, the Safa vice-president who led the association’s delegation, which included fraud-accused CFO Gronie Hluyo and head of referees Abdul Ebrahim, said he couldn’t respond to questions about why the PSL hadn’t been contacted over VAR because he was not a member of the joint liaison committee.
How can a tender [for VAR] be issued without the main stakeholders – the PSL – having an input?
— MP Faith Muthambi
Safa NEC members Pooby Govindasamy and Gladywn White seemed to engage in a verbal tussle over whether some decisions had been ratified by the NEC, including the decision to render the Teboho Mokoena saga closed.
White said he had recommended that Vincent Tseka, the Bafana team manager, not be offered a new contract after his failure to pick up that Mokoena had been suspended for the Lesotho match back in March. Instead, Tseka has been rewarded with a new deal despite reaching retirement age that will see him depart only after next year’s World Cup.
Chair of the portfolio committee Joseph McGluwa had to call for calm, prompting other MPs to voice their concerns about the disunity at Safa. “We seem to have two factions,” MP Gaolatlhe Kgabo remarked.
CFO Hluyo presented Safa’s gloomy financial results up to 2024, which showed the association to be R5m in the red, adding “liability exceeds assets, and this could lead to solvency risks”.
In the end, committee chair McGluwa recommended that an ad hoc committee be formed to investigate the affairs of Safa.
“Things cannot go on this way,” he said. “I would suggest that after closing this meeting, we should consider an official forensic inquiry into what’s happening at Safa. There’s clearly governance issues. It’s embarrassing, uncalled for and unacceptable.”
Sowetan
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