The South African Football Association (Safa) is accused by clubs across the country of owing them more than R10-million in unpaid grants, travelling allowance and competition prizes.
The clubs, which ply their trade in the Sasol Women’s League in nine provinces, have received only part of the money due to them, ranging from R5 000 to R9 750.
The money was paid to the clubs two weeks ago, after a long battle with the cash-strapped football association.
The clubs have been fighting with Safa since 2023, demanding that the organisation led by controversial president Danny Jordaan pay up the money owed to them.
The women’s league, which is sponsored by chemicals and energy giant Sasol, has been marred by controversy in which 144 teams participating in the competition found themselves in a sticky situation as they did not have any funds to operate. This led to some of the club owners heading to court to force Safa to pay up.
The owner of Queens FC and the Free State coordinator in the National Sasol Teams Representatives committee, Stefani Lockman-Naidoo, stated that it was shocking that Safa had the audacity to pay clubs in the province only R5 000 each, despite them being owed more than R1-million in grants and unpaid prize money.
Sunday World has reported about similar problems before.
“After your story, Safa in the province engaged us and stated that it was going to pay us all the monies owed to us, but to our shock, each team was paid only R5 000,” Lockman-Naidoo told Sunday World.
“This is an insult to us as the teams, as we work hard to make sure we keep football alive in the Free State. It is a sad situation that we find ourselves fighting for what is rightfully ours.
“That money that was paid to our teams is nothing compared to all the preparations we go through when we [honour] fixtures …
“We demand that Safa should consider dealing with the situation that we are facing. Safa in the region told us that it is waiting for money from the sponsorship to honour its debt to us, but clearly, the association is clutching at straws.
“By the look of things, Safa is bankrupt, and it should just close shop,” lamented Lockman-Naidoo.
She said that 12 clubs out of 16 had been paid R5 000 by the football association.
“Four teams which were promoted did not get even a cent. We are not going to play until the whole amount owed to us is settled. As things stand, we are on our own, and it is sad to see these young girls’ futures being destroyed in such a manner by Safa,” said Lockman-Naidoo. Blue Birds owner and the Gauteng coordinator the National Sasol Teams Representatives Committee, Malvin Khumalo said.
“All 16 teams in Gauteng were paid R9 250, and Safa did not even specify to us if these funds were for 2023 or 2025 travelling costs. We are owed more than R1 million for grants from 2023 to 2025, and this included competition prizes. It doesn’t make sense to us on why we are getting measly R9 250, while we are owed so much money. This is injustice and also an act of sabotaging the talent of these young women who play in our teams,” said Khumalo. In the letter sent to the Safa Gauteng provincial executive officer, Victor Raletjena and the association’s sports administrator in the province, Mondli Dube by Gauteng Sasol Teams, the clubs stated that despite receiving R9 750 from the organisation, they demanded all the monies owed to be paid.
Safa did not answer the specific questions sent to them.
