Johannesburg – Safa is not resting on its laurels but is pursuing the matter relating to the reimbursement of Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns for the costs the clubs incurred when their trips to Morocco and Algeria, respectively, for CAF Champions League group stage assignments were cancelled last month.
The PSL clubs are said to have made losses in the region of R1-million each after the north African clubs Wydad Casablanca and CR Belouizdad informed the SA clubs on the 11th hour that they were barred from entering their countries due to Covid-19 restrictions.
This was after Amakhosi and Masandawana had made the necessary travel arrangements, however, they were denied visas and the two fixtures had to be rescheduled, disrupting the PSL fixture programme in the process.
The matches were later played at neutral venues, however, Chiefs and Sundowns had already booked and paid for accommodation, flights, as well as made the necessary travelling arrangements, including the compulsory Covid-19 tests for about 40 people in the travelling party.
Chiefs honoured the rescheduled fixture but were thumped 4-0 by Wydad in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.
Sundowns crushed CR Belouizdad 5-1 at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Speaking from Rabat in Morocco, where SA football el supremo Patrice Motsepe was crowned the new CAF president, Safa CEO Tebogo Motlanthe said that the national football controlling body was constantly reminding CAF about the matter of repaying the PSL outfits. “The issue of the reimbursement is with the competitions committee of CAF.
“We are continuously writing to them reminding them about the claims,” said Motlanthe.
“There isn’t much we can do but keep on reminding them. The matter lies with CAF, it’s in their hands but we are not leaving it lying down, we are pursuing it on behalf of our clubs, who have sent both claims.”
Chiefs football manager Bobby Motaung said although he could not comment because the matter was with Safa and CAF, the club would just have to wait for the outcome.
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