Safa's crack of the whip should sound for all

As we await the outcome of the disciplinary hearing involving Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba, it is worth noting that it appears he's not the only person with disciplinary issues at the team.

Mashaba took the stand to defend himself against claims of misconduct on Monday at Safa House, amid suggestions the hearing will inevitably lead to his sacking sooner rather than later.

But while this column has numerously pointed out Mashaba's flaws and concluded he's ill-suited to the Bafana post, it seems ill-discipline runs through the veins of our national team.

Sadly, however, some of these cases are not treated with the same urgency we've seen the Safa hierarchy deal with Mashaba, who committed his alleged misdeed a little over a month ago, but could find himself out in the cold already.

In October, Safa released a statement in which they confirmed striker Tokelo Rantie had been withdrawn from the Bafana squad after failing to report for duty for the trip to Burkina Faso, despite having arrived in the country at Safa's cost.

"Rantie's matter will now be handled by the association for further disciplinary measures," Safa said in that statement.

This case has since grown cold. The fact that Rantie is abroad cannot be good excuse. Yes, he was excluded from the subsequent camp against Senegal - where a raging Mashaba put his foot in it and now finds himself in trouble - but we would like to hear what "disciplinary measures" were taken against the striker after his blatant disrespect for a national call-up.

Rantie, however, is apparently not alone in this ill-discipline. This past weekend, Sunday World reported that another senior player, Andile Jali, had brought a girl to a Bafana camp in Pretoria last month.

"The national team was booked on the third floor at Southern Sun in Menlyn and he (Jali) asked me to book a room on the second floor," one Andile Nkosi told the newspaper, adding the player then went out "clubbing".

"When he came back," this Nkosi is quoted as saying "we had wild sex and he overslept and was almost left by the team bus to Polokwane (where the match took place on November 12)."

I sent a query to Safa's Dominic Chimhavi on Monday regarding this, and even called Safa chief executive Dennis Mumble for comment. I'm still waiting to hear if there'll be any action taken against Jali, or get progress on Rantie.

I am unable to corroborate if "wild sex" is punishable in Safa statutes, but surely if Jali indeed flouted team rules, his transgression would be even bigger than those of Rantie and Mashaba.

Safa, of course, should not take action merely on the basis of media reports. The organisation needs to establish the veracity of such reports, but ignoring them won't work.

If anything, it would tell of selective justice by the association, which rushed to suspend Mashaba a day after his misguided rant in Polokwane following victory over Senegal, but has still not announced any sanction against Rantie after he snubbed the national team.

The bottom line is Safa should be seen to be acting on ill-discipline, irrespective of transgressors.

Pursuing only Mashaba and ignoring errant players who also "bring the organisation into disrepute" is no way to enforce discipline.