Mthethwa and Sascoc working on bonuses for Commonwealth medallists

After rewarding Banyana Banyana handsomely for winning the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) for the first time, the department of sport says it is working on a similar bonus plan for SA’s 2022 Commonwealth Games medallists.

However, there’s no hope for SA's track and field stars who won 36 medals at the 2022 African Championships in Athletics in Mauritius in June.

Banyana, who defeated Wafcon hosts Morocco 2-1 in the final in Rabat last month, have received a cool R15m bonus from the SA government.

Sports minister Nathi Mthethwa had initially said Banyana would receive an incentive of R5.8m frm the department of sport, but on Tuesday the minister told a press conference at Sascoc House in Rosebank that President Cyril Ramaphosa had requested the reward be bumped up. The national government added R9.2m.

Asked if the Commonwealth medal winners were also in line for a payday for their exploits in Birmingham this month, Mthethwa let his deputy director-general at the department of sports, Sumayya Khan, explain.

“The minister has indicated that Sascoc will make an announcement regarding the Commonwealth Games. We are working with Sascoc, so whatever is given to the athletes will be a joint initiative between government and Sascoc,” Khan said.

Team SA returned home with 27 medals - seven golds, nine silvers and 11 bronze medals - from Birmingham.

Khan indicated that the 2022 African Championships in Athletics athletes would not receive a monetary reward from the minister.

“With regards to other athletes, this is not the only recognition we have. The minister’s recognition system is for exceptional accolades such as winning Wafcon for the first time,” Khan said.

“This is an exceptional situation that recognises our sportspeople, but there are other streams of recognition we have such as the SA Sports Awards.

“We encourage and recommend all sports federations to recommend and nominate their athletes.

“There’s a recognition system that we call the ‘seize the moment’ where we can’t wait for the Sports Awards to recognise Banyana Banyana’s accolade. We had to do it immediately.”