The South African Football Association (safa) have submitted a bid to host the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (afcon).
Along with submitting their documents for the bid, Safa sent a letter to the Confederation of African Football (Caf) asking for clarification on various key points, an association official who did not want to be named told TimesLIVE.
SA and Egypt were the only two countries to have submitted bids for the tournament, scheduled for June 15-July 13, by Caf's deadline of midnight on Friday.
The decision will be taken in Dakar on January 9, alongside the Caf Awards.
The 2019 Nations Cup was stripped from original hosts Cameroon due to preparation and readiness issues late last month.
Safa's senior leaders, including president Danny Jordaan, met sports minister Tokozile Xasa and department of sport and recreation officials on Friday to establish whether the association could have government support for the bid.
But TimesLIVE is informed that Xasa was dissatisfied with the information from Safa, which did not provide the costs of staging the tournament.
The government also apparently wants Caf to commit to sharing television and commercial rights and revenue from ticket sales with SA.
Safa communications manager Dominic Chimhavi was asked to respond to the assertion that the department of sport was not satisfied with the information provided.
"That is why we have sent the letter to Caf," Chimhavi said yesterday.
"We also need clarification from Caf."
The South African government has not committed to hosting the tournament because apparently they want a share of the television rights and ticket revenue from the tournament.
In the meeting on Friday, Xasa was not satisfied with the business case made by Safa for SA to host the tournament.
It is believed Xasa has briefed President Cyril Ramaphosa on the developments.
"Government has not issued a letter to commit itself to hosting this tournament because there are no sufficient documents relating to the costs," said a source who wished to remain anonymous.
"The most important thing here is the cost of this tournament.
"You must remember that if we host this tournament, these games are going to be hosted by municipalities who must provide infrastructure as stadiums, training grounds and safety and other related logistics.
"Everybody who is going to be involved must be on the same page if we are to move on and host this tournament."
With just seven months to go to the 2019 tournament, Caf are believed to favour SA as tournament hosts, because of the country's experience of having staged two Afcons (1996 and 2013), stepping in late for both, and a 2010 World Cup, and their stadium infrastructure.
Given that this is not a normal bid and Caf are asking SA to step in, and provide a solution, the government seems to be holding out in the hope that the tournament will cost the country as little as possible.
The expansion of the Afcon finals next year from 16 to 24 teams raises further infrastructure concerns.
Morocco had been linked to a bid since Cameroon's expulsion, but have since withdrawn.
Caf announced that Cameroon had been stripped of hosting the 2019 Afcon on November 30, after a 10-hour meeting of their executive behind closed doors in Accra, Ghana.
Alarm bells had been sounded over Cameroon's readiness at a Caf executive committee meeting in September when it was noted the West African country had suffered "a significant delay in the realisation of the infrastructures" necessary. Eventually, Caf pulled the plug on Cameroon.
When contacted yesterday, Xasa committed to comment on the story but had not done so by the time of publication, despite numerous calls and messages sent to her...