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Christmas came early for Bafana Bafana players after sport minister Gayton McKenzie intervened to advance the South African Football Association (SAFA) with R5 million for salaries.
The department of sport, arts and culture has decided to advance the federation with R5 million, following reports that SAFA has become cash-strapped to pay player’s salaries ahead of the festive season, revealed the departmental acting spokesperson Chade Kramer.
Minister Gayton McKenzie wrote to the organisation to offer the advance, with the understanding that it will be subtracted from the grant paid in the 2025 financial year, she added.
Kramer highlighted that this comes with the condition that SAFA’s leadership would need to provide reasons for why their financial affairs are so troubled, together with a viable turnaround plan to avoid such a situation in future. SAFA agreed to the conditions and thanked the minister for the intervention.
“In their correspondence to the minister, the CEO explained that sponsorship revenues have been insufficient, while they have also been dealing with delayed payments from various partners,” she stated.
Bafana Bafana qualified for Afcon
According to Kramer, SAFA has been working on a financial turnaround strategy to increase revenues and cut costs, which will be presented to the minister following the federation’s upcoming national executive committee meeting.
“We cannot allow players to go into this festive season without payment, especially since they have done the country proud.
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“The men’s team recently qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations, and we need them to focus on preparing for this challenge, as well as making sure we get to the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico, and Canada.
“Banyana Banyana have also led the way, winning the African Women’s Championship in 2022 and going deep at the FIFA World Cup last year,” the minister said.
