South African Football Association (Safa) CEO Tebogo Motlanthe will write to the Premier Soccer League (PSL) to ask for their reasons for boycotting Sunday’s Safa ordinary congress in Kempton Park.
The PSL on Thursday announced it would not attend the congress and two-day workshop/indaba that preceded it on Friday and Saturday, and would seek an audience with sports minister Zizi Kodwa and Confederation of African Football (Caf) president Patrice Motsepe.
The PSL did not specify its reasons but said the decision came after a league executive committee meeting on Thursday “discussed the agenda circulated by Safa”.
At a breakfast with the media on Wednesday, Safa president Danny Jordaan, Motlanthe and technical director Walter Steenbok indicated they want the association to implement Caf club licensing rules, especially those pertaining to minimum qualification requirements for coaches, on PSL clubs.
“The PSL did not attend in line with the media statement it issued,” Motlanthe said after the ordinary congress at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park.
“I have been mandated by the national executive committee (NEC) to write to the league and ask what the reasons were because that media statement did not touch on the reasons.
“Once we have the reasons we can talk about the issue. But for now we will all be assuming [things] because [their statement] only said, ‘After looking at the agenda’, but we don’t know what the issues were in relation to the agenda.
“First thing on Monday I will be writing a letter to the acting CEO of the league [Mato Madlala] looking for answers. After getting answers we’ll know how we move forward.”
Motlanthe was asked if the Caf club licensing issue was on the agenda at Safa's congress.
“The issues [related to that matter] were workshop issues. This was an ordinary congress, where you have a statutory agenda,” he said.
“They [the club licensing proposals] could not be brought here but they were spoken about at length in the workshop by Safa members.
“The TD [Steenbok] has been given a duty to finalise his document, also including the comments [from members at the workshop]. It will then move to the NEC.
“After being adopted by the NEC it will come to the congress as the final say. But they have agreed there are issues that can be implemented immediately without needing policy, like your under-15 league.
“Of course the TD gave issues we had around coaching because we cannot solely blame the coaches. We have not offered courses [for a few years].
“He is working on the [coaching course] modules that need to be approved by Caf so we can start offering those. But he did present that. And we expect his final document will come with the requirements.”
Motlanthe said Safa wants to regulate coach qualification requirements at all levels, including junior coaches.
He was asked if Safa still has control of football in the country, given the PSL’s boycott and regional body Cosafa hosting tournaments in South Africa without consulting the country’s ruling body.
“The federation still has control. That’s why when we speak to Cosafa it is to exercise our control.
“I will not call the PSL thing a snubbing or whatever. We must get reasons before we can ask if those are justifiable.
“But the control is still there. There is only one federation, Safa, which is recognised by both Fifa and Caf.”
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