EDITORIAL | Bafana a national treasure again, while Safa remains a nightmare

It would be hard to find a starker contrast between sporting excellence and gross administrative incompetence and negligence.

Yes, remarkably, Bafana Bafana can now, after almost two miserable decades of depressing underachievement, be associated with the word ‘excellence’, thanks to coach Hugo Broos’ spectacular revival of the team and some talented players emerging, and a new confidence and pride in the badge.

But it’s a fragile revival.

And this fortnight, the clash of the excellence being achieved by Bafana on the field — as last year’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) bronze medal winners, qualifiers for the next Afcon and leaders of their 2026 World Cup qualifying group — with the South African Football Association’s (Safa) continued administrative dysfunction was starkly illustrated.

It affected the team directly.

The exact blame for who did not pick up that Teboho Mokoena should have been suspended in the South Africans’ 2-0 World Cup qualifying group C win against Lesotho in Polokwane on Friday has not been officially apportioned yet. But most reports agree the responsibility ultimately fell on the shoulders of team manager Vincent Tseka.

Mokoena being fielded despite being ineligible given his two yellow cards in previous matches, which seems sure to cost Bafana a three-point deduction by Fifa, was a howler, a shocker, of monumental proportions.

It may not cost South Africa a place at the World Cup. Bafana heroically extended their lead to five points with an impressive 2-0 win against Benin in Ivory Coast on Tuesday, with results including Nigeria’s home draw against Zimbabwe and Rwanda’s against Lesotho also going their way.

If the three-point debacle were not hanging over their heads, Tuesday’s results would have left the South Africans a virtual cakewalk to the first 48-team World Cup in Mexico, Canada and the US next year.

An effective two-point lead, plus the uncertainty over how long FIFA’s disciplinary committee will take over any action, changes the scenario markedly. It means Bafana still have to go into every game knowing they need a win to keep their noses in front.

On form, and with Nigeria, the danger team ahead of the group campaign, seemingly continuing to flounder, Broos’ side can still qualify even if there is a deduction. But it becomes far from certain again. And South Africa will be aware that there is a huge clash at home to nemesis Nigeria among their four remaining matches in September.

Given so much chaos, Jordaan’s issues and all the bad press, how can Safa attract sponsors to turn its situation around?

But there is a still a chance the whole debacle could cost Bafana a place at the World Cup — they cannot afford to slip up. There needs to be some context to such a possibility. The national football team was the sad story of South African sport for so long that many fans gave up on a turnaround. Their excitement about their recovery has seen stadiums packed in Gqeberha, Cape Town, Bloemfontein and Polokwane.

If the points deduction derails their attempt to qualify for a first World Cup other than as hosts since 2002 — 23 years ago — that would be a huge setback for the revival. That would be simply unforgivable. It comes as the spotlight shines again on the administrative nightmare that is Safa House.

Tseka’s place as Bafana team manager, for one, has been controversial and speaks to the lack of accountability at the association. The team manager has been in the news for the wrong reasons before including being red-carded for an outburst in Bafana's Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifying win over Liberia in Monrovia in 2023. Far more infamously, Tseka failed to book Dobsonville Stadium as a training venue in 2022, resulting in the national team being unable to hold its session.

Yet previously, when Tseka erred, Safa closed ranks around the official.

This comes in a week when it also emerged that Safa could not pay salaries to its staff in March. The association said this was because of a “delayed payment from one of our partners”, but how can such a major organisation not have enough funds in reserve to pay staff in such a situation?

This week there were reports of the national under-20 team and opponents Botswana having no water in the camp at Safa's Fun Valley technical centre in Johannesburg, allegedly due to damage to a borehole water pump that had been inoperative for two months.

Safa continually denies it is in a financial crisis, yet its financial report for 2022-23 showed a shortfall of R107m.

President Danny Jordaan is battling fraud charges yet remains at the helm despite calls from some NEC members to stand down until he is cleared.

Given so much chaos, Jordaan’s issues and all the bad press, how can Safa attract sponsors to turn its situation around?

This fortnight, that chaos spilt over and affected Broos’s team in a major way.

Realistically, given its track record, Safa is not about to get its house in order. Bafana will have to soldier on and hopefully continue their resurgence with a place at the World Cup against the odds and, at some level, the state of their own association.