Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie has appealed to white South Africans to show as much support for Bafana Bafana as they did for the Springboks.
Bafana Bafana is preparing for a big year, which includes the 2026 FIFA World Cup in June in the Americas.
Bafana qualified for the global showpiece for the first time in 23 years. They last appeared in 2010, because SA was the host nation.
‘BaFriday’ to replace ‘BokFriday’
Now that Bafana is returning to the global stage with a new kit and sponsor, McKenzie pleaded with white South African rugby fans to come to the party as they did with the Springboks in 2023. That’s when they wore green and gold t-shirts every Friday to show solidarity, unity, and support for the Boks.
“We have supported Rugby, where we had ‘BokFriday’, but now we must support Bafana Bafana and have what we will call ‘BaFriday’, and I am making a call to all corporates to allow their employees to wear Bafana Bafana jerseys every Friday,” McKenzie said.
“There was no problem with the wearing of Springbok jerseys, so it is now time to support Bafana Bafana.
“And I want to talk to white people in particular. Rugby is a white-dominated sport, but we (black people) have supported and embraced rugby because Nelson Mandela made sure of that. So, we also want to see you on Fridays wearing your Bafana Bafana shirts because this is a big World Cup year for them.”
New Bafana kit
McKenzie also shared his thoughts on the new national team jersey, which was unveiled by the SA Football Association (Safa) and sponsors Adidas this week.
“I am hearing people saying that the new jersey is not nice … this t-shirt is very beautiful, and I have spoken to Adidas to say supply must meet demand,” he added.
