That's because Senegal were in the top four of African football when they were signed up in late January for the match against Bafana Bafana at the Moses Mabhida stadium.
That was before Senegal's disastrous performance at the Nations Cup, where they lost all three of their matches.
The total cost of bringing out Senegal was about R7-million, a bill picked up by the eThekwini Municipality.
According to a Safa official who did not want to be named, the municipality "took care of everything", with the football federation not spending a cent.
That also explained why Durban Mayor James Nxumalo gave the team a royal welcome on their arrival in the city on Monday.
Safa also arranged to have the Bafana squad announcement press conference in Durban last week, going against the usual hosting of such media briefings at the association's headquarters in Johannesburg.
"Big money was coming in from the eThekwini Municipality and when they requested that the announcement be held in Durban, Safa did not hesitate," said the official.
For Durban, the Bafana match was to the benefit of the province, regardless of the national team's opposition, as takings at the gate would skyrocket even if a lowly ranked team were the opponents.
City spokesman Thabo Mofokeng said last month: "We haven't hosted a Bafana match in two years [the last game being a 1-1 draw between Bafana and Namibia in March 2010].
"The World Cup facility [at Moses Mabhida] has to be kept working all the time."
It is standard practice that the hosts pay for flights, accommodation and ensure financial gains for the travelling team in friendlies.
A charter flight was also arranged for Senegal's overseas-based players (there's only one locally based player) immediately after last night's match so that the players could get back to their clubs in time.
Safa believed a charter flight would be less expensive than booking the Senegal players on a scheduled flight back to Europe.
Senegal were also paid R1.3-million for their time in Durban.
Safa and the city said they were not cheated by Senegal, who brought a squad made up mostly of their under-23 Olympic team following the exclusion of the names that under-performed at the Nations Cup.
Newcastle United striker Papiss Demba Cisse withdrew from the squad because of injury, while strike partner and former Manchester United forward Mame Diouf cited possible fatigue and distance for snubbing the Teranga Lions.
"The deal was concluded long before Senegal's nightmare at the Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
"They were No4 in Africa when Safa invited them to play in the friendly match and no one could have anticipated that they would have dropped so much by the time the fixture took place," said the Safa official.
Senegal are now ranked 16th in Africa and 68th by Fifa, while South Africa are ranked 10th on the continent and 10 places above the visitors in Fifa standings.
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