The SA Football Association (Safa) faces another scandal with eight clubs from the Gauteng Sasol Women’s League claiming the association owes them over R1-million in unpaid grant and prize money.
The revelations contained in a letter addressed to the federation come in a week in which Safa announced it had failed to pay its staff salaries on time.
Last week Sunday World revealed that the association had failed to ensure that the under-20 national team’s preparation for its friendlies against Botswana were not scuppered by a failure to provide water.
Players at the camp in Fun Valley Resort were forced to endure a two-day stinky nightmare as the association failed to fix a long-standing problem with the water supply at the facility.
Now, the embattled football association is facing accusations of owing 16 teams from the Sasol Women’s League in Gauteng for the past three years.
Apart from the eight clubs that have signed the letter, Sunday World understands that eight others that were not signatories to the memo sent to Safa are also owed by the association.
Each club is supposed to receive R38 000 per season from Safa, apart from the prize money for winning the league.
These teams have since written a petition to the Safa Gauteng provincial executive officer, Victor Raletjena, complaining about unpaid fees owed to their clubs by the Danny Jordaan-led association.
In their complaint, sent on March 20, and the second letter written last Monday, the eight teams stated that they had been out in the cold and struggling to honour fixtures due to a lack of funds.
“We, the undersigned Gauteng Women’s Sasol League clubs, formally bring to your attention the long-overdue payments owed to us by the South African Football Association for the period 2023 to 2025.
“Additionally, we have incurred substantial expenses for travel and match fees, which remain unpaid.
This financial burden has forced clubs into unsustainable debt, with some taking loans to cover costs,” said the eight clubs who are collective signatories in the memo.
Amongst other monies alleged to be owed to the aggrieved clubs are badge fees, batch payments, travel reimbursement, match fees and top eight prize money.
They are demanding immediate payment from Safa.
“If we do not receive a firm commitment from Safa within seven working days, we will have no choice but to pursue legal action to safeguard our rights,” concluded the letter.
The teams have also threatened to boycott their upcoming fixtures until Safa meets its obligations.
The letter was signed by the affected team’s chairperson, Malvin Khumalo, alongside former Banyana Banyana coach.
However, on Friday, Raletjena responded to the eight teams through a letter and stated that Safa had acknowledged and understood the challenges that clubs are going through.
“Kindly be informed that we have forwarded your grievance to the head office and we are still waiting for a response.
“With regards to you not honouring the official fixtures and, in the circumstances, kindly note that the province is not able to grant or endorse the postponement of fixtures,” said Raletjena.
Responding to Sunday World, Sasol’s spokesperson, Matebello Motloung, said the company was deeply concerned about the developments at Safa.
“As a committed sponsor of women’s football in South Africa, our priority has always been to support the development of the women’s game and ensure that players and teams receive the resources they need.
“Our role as a sponsor is to provide financial support to Safa, which is responsible for administering the league, including the distribution of payments.
“We are in contact with Safa, and we are exploring possible next steps given the information at hand,”
said Motloung. Safa had not responded to our media enquiry sent to them at the time of going to print.
