Pay Banyana backroom staff – players union tells Safa

The SA Football Players Union (Safpu) and Safa appear headed for another collision over Banyana Banyana World Cup bonuses, with Safpu president Thulaganyo Gaoshubelwe falling short of accusing Safa president Danny Jordaan of using some of the money pledged towards the team for personal legal battles.

"Probably they want to use this money [from Fifa] for other things. We know that they are taking people left, right and centre to court... where are they going to get the money from when they'd said they don't have the money? So, probably they want to use the money of these champions [Banyana] and redirect it, so that he [Jordaan] can defend himself against all these matters that are in court,'' Gaoshubelwe said yesterday.

Safpu's latest brawl with Safa stems from weekend revelations that the association will not budge on paying Banyana's support staff the R115,000 per member which was promised following a Banyana strike over incentives two weeks ago.

Safa, in a statement, made it clear staff members will only receive daily allowances as they already have employment elsewhere. The association pledged to pay bonuses to the playing staff with money from Fifa, the Motsepe Foundation and the National Lottery.

"Which policy says people can't be remunerated for the work they've done?," Gaoshubelwe asked. "I don't understand why they can't pay this money because the money from Fifa is ring-fenced. We are demanding that they stick to the agreement. We agreed in principle and they didn't have a problem until they came up with this silly statement. The money Fifa gave Safa to prepare for the World Cup must cover all the costs, including the bonuses of the backroom staff, it's that simple."

Gaoshubelwe also revealed they'll be writing to Fifa to get clarity as to why Safa is reluctant to pay staff bonuses from the money allocated to prepare for the global spectacle, starting from Thursday to August 20 in New Zealand and Australia.

"The problem is that we are dealing with a very dishonest organisation. They [Safa] are like an amoeba, which is a type of unicellular organism with the ability to alter its shape whenever it wants, that's exactly what these Safa people are like,'' said the Safpu boss.

One of the court cases Safa is currently involved in is against  Bart Henderson, who a few weeks ago, published what he calls a forensic report titled “OFFSIDES”, in which he questioned Safa’s financial affairs and accused Jordaan and chief financial officer Gronie Hluyo of financial mismanagement.

Safa said it will take him to court.

Safa head of communication Mninawa Ntloko referred queries to CEO Lydia Monyepao, who couldn't be reached for comment.