Covid-19: Safa management take 15 percent pay cuts

Senior management at the South African Football Association (Safa) have volunteered to take a 15 percent pay cut and also recommended several other drastic measures in a bid to soften the financial blow delivered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The managers met this week to consider various cost reduction options after they recognised that the postponement of various competitions and activities has put Safa’s finances under pressure in the wake of the outbreak.

Safa has been counting the costs of the coronavirus since football was postponed in March and Gronie Hluyo (chief financial officer), Mlungisi Ncame (general manager, corporate services), Mzwandile Maforvane (general manager, football business/events), Tebogo Motlanthe (general manager, legal), Neil Tovey (technical director and general manager, national teams), Darryl Coutries (head of commercial and marketing) and Dominic Chimhavi (head of communications) have made several recommendations to Safa’s national executive committee that include a 15 percent pay cut.

The managers have recommended the following to the Safa National Executive Committee:

• That Safa staff members were ordered to stay at home as from March 24.
• That Safa staff must be paid their full salaries for the months of March and April.
• The senior management agreed on the pay cut of 15% across the board subject to consultation with the staff and finalisation of the proposal.
• The staff who cannot work from home must take their annual leave as from May 4. Those staff members who are working from home must continue to do so.
• In the event where staff do not have sufficient annual leave to cover the lockdown period, once annual leave has been depleted, unpaid leave will be taken.
• In this case staff who have worked overtime will be allowed to take leave in lieu of overtime worked as verified and approved by their respective general managers. 
• Safa has also offered voluntary retrenchment packages to the employees.

In the meantime, Safa has paid different constituent groups.

Safa president Danny Jordaan attended a virtual meeting with world football governing body Fifa this week and presented an update on the Impact of Covid-19 on the sport in South Africa.

Jordaan motivated for emergency funding and Fifa agreed to provide funds, which are expected in the next 7 to 14 days.

Sports bodies across the globe are feeling the pinch in the wake of the outbreak and they have all had to take drastic measures to ensure their survival.

The local rugby industry announced this week that they are preparing to cut up to R1-billion from the budget over the next eight months to ensure post Covid-19 viability.

They are hoping to cut between R700 million and R1 billion as the game has ground to a halt due to the global spread of the pandemic. A plan has been devised and agreed following discussions involving SA Rugby‚ provincial unions, as well as players and rugby industry employees.

While Cricket SA are also counting the costs of the virus like numerous other organisations around the world‚ acting CEO Jacques Faul said this week they have not reached a stage of financial vulnerability as a result of Covid-19.