Mbalula to read Safa the riot act
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Sport and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula to read Safa the riot act

Mbalula to read Safa the riot act

Posted: 2012-02-08 09:44

Sport and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula has vowed to do what many South African fans have been pleading for months – to sort out the mess that is the South African Football Association.

Bafana Bafana have been on a downward spiral, culminating in the embarrassing events surrounding their failure to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

And, with the country set to host the 2013 Afcon tournament, Mbalula is adamant that the governing body needs to get its house in order.

“We will look at the dismal performance of Bafana Bafana in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, which saw them fail to go to the tournament for the second successive time after missing out in 2010 in Angola,” he said.

“We are making this call (to SAFA) amid cries of the nation in recent performances of our national teams, especially Bafana Bafana.”

Mbalula has also promised to sort out the infighting that has hampered SAFA for so many years.

“We will also not tolerate the infighting among the leadership of SAFA that at the end of the day compromises the performance of our teams and the moral fibre of our football,” he added.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Can anyone clean up the mess at Safa?

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Recent Comments (39) :

mk@whoever: 2012-02-08 09:41

safa iz kak!

Yellow 4ever and Beyond: 2012-02-08 09:49

if u cn restructure safa then u will succeed..bt until then

Undisputed Double-Trebble Champ Mopheme: 2012-02-08 09:59

Safa,,, a joke of the jokes..!!!

TP : 2012-02-08 10:03

Ja neh!I was listening on Metro fm people suggesting to march to Safa offices & I just more than ever feel how influence & populism can take over the brian of the masses.

Even if Safa hierarchy is changed or Pitso is fired.The problem of South African football doesn't lie in them.

South African players develop late & they don't get opportunities of playing with their African counterparts at early stages.

I gave example on Andile Jali that though he played for junior teams,that was not consistent enough.

Bafana bafana performance should not be used by people with hidden agendas & dislike of Safa or Pitso.South African government itself is not delivering but are we suppose to say they must go or rather work together to create a better South Africa.

Mark my words:Even if Pitso is sacked,Bafana bafana will not improve without development & teams refusing to release their best players to support this cause is also a stumbling block.

I mentioned previously that Gauteng Municipality launched vision 2040 & nobody made a noise about it.But 2014 vision is a problem why?2040 is too far to improve the lives of people & 2014 is a short time to try & get a good team.

The present players,most of them missed development & the future of Bafana bafana should be judged in 10 years ,if the right development is implemented.

This is pure nonsense & hidden agendas.

Cathro : 2012-02-08 10:03

Maybe he wnt to introduce some tender to run safa,he must just focus on his politics

STANCOVIC: 2012-02-08 10:17

Carry on Minister, you have my blessings. It is not only SAFA and CricketSA. There many more, including SABC (we either get delayed live or nothing), SASCOC, etc. This is a sporting nation with lots of potential / talent, but the results are disgusting.

brazilitto : 2012-02-08 10:24

Well am no longer a fan of South african politicians. And dis aunt fikile mbalula is one of them, s.ex pest. If he thinks soccer fans are stupid he must go to hell, we know that it is them who backs dis so called ftf or tft shi.ts. Cumin here to fool us and talk abt inter fighting. Bafana are bad bcos of leaders like u. Who puts politics first. By the way isizelwe ingane, umfana noma intombazane. Siyakubongela

lish: 2012-02-08 10:25

SAFA now FASA....is ajoke because you can't be led by people who doesn't have interest in sport, for example Nematandai, did he ever play football before ?
2. Which club in PSL is coming from ?
3. Nonkonyana did he ever played football or have a club in PSL ?
4. These headkess chicken appointed themselves to self enriched their big tummies,
5. We need people like Kaizer and Khoza who understand the football and also who knows what is best for the nation...

KICK THEM OUT GQOMENI !!!

Fofana: 2012-02-08 10:25

I fully agree with TP. The problem here is lack of development it is not our structure. We dont have school soccer anymore. Rugby has Varsity Cup and most guys can perform there and are introduced to the sport in high school.

JJR13: 2012-02-08 10:27

South Africa have quality players that can mix it with the best...we must stop making excuses, the players have quality, we have a lot more depth than people think in the player stocks...we need to just find some consistentcy. And most of that has to start with the Clubs releasing their players for the national team.

Fikile Mbalula is the man!!

JJR13: 2012-02-08 10:30

@Fofana, Yes, we need a Varsity Cup type thing for football...especially if they televise the games like the Varsity Cup. We do have enough current talent i believe due to our improving PSL and our players abroad; but development is lacking. Pirates seem to have a pretty solid youth system...their youngsters have performed well internationally.

SisterP: 2012-02-08 10:36

Mbalula is just all talk, nothing will come out of this. The only person that should be questioned is Lesley Sedibe, he was the CEO and he signed all documents. Instead of playing Victim he should tell us how much did they pay him.

SisterP: 2012-02-08 10:41

Mbalula is just all talk, nothing will come out of this. The only person that should be questioned is Lesley Sedibe, he was the CEO and he signed all documents. Instead of playing Victim he should tell us how much did they pay him.

Bra Aubs: 2012-02-08 10:42

Fire that whole SAFA board Mr Mbalula, or politely ask them to stem down we are sick of them now

Gatyeni: 2012-02-08 10:45

The truth is football no longer appeals to many young South African. When I was growing up, in the early 90s youngsters used to create their own soccer pitch where after school they would play soccer day in and day out, also the primary and secondary school football was so popular then. Now every parent want his/her black/colored child to get educated and become a dr/engineer. Also the school have increase the hours and have huge workloads after school leaving less time for play. This is why we experiencing a huge sporting problem in our country, except in rugby where many school have it.

Owen : 2012-02-08 10:54

Until Pitso is being sacked, I don't wanna read anything about Bafana nor SAFA

MIKASA: 2012-02-08 11:02

About tym...dis is da best news i have heared this year

Dooba OPC: 2012-02-08 11:05

Dear Mbalula,

I am a concerned tax paying citizen of this banana republic and like any monkey climbing these trees in confusion, I too feel away from light and closed into darkness regarding monkeys who chaw banana without permission. Can you please commission an inquiry into the recent match-fixing scandal involving the monkey called Mahumad Kika- and while doing that please make sure the commission probe everyone in that madhouse called safa (from security, tea-lady, gardener to Nemanthadani)- all these people can decipher the riddle that has been put to our faces since the departure of Stix Morewa; all we can also know is that the departure of Stix could have been a political monopoly... I would not be surprised if a security guard at safa drives home in a new E-class, or the tea lady have 6 helpers at her home; probably the money from Fifa has helped everyone at that madhouse except football- even Mzion (RIP) and Sadam started disappearing in stadium and we know from history that those two were hardcore stadium goers... my point, Honourable minister, is that there is no smoke without fire, leave no stone unturned...

Thank you in advance,

Concerned tax-paying citizen.

Malabulabu : 2012-02-08 11:06

Those who say we don't have quality players are talking nonsense just take a look at this midfield : Thulane Serero, Steven Pienaar, Andile Jali ,Lucky Baloyi,Oupa Manyisa, May Mahlangu and that Sundows player from Daveyton (I forgot his name) this midfield can terrorize any defence in the world.

Pitso Must Go Now: 2012-02-08 11:08

The dismal performance refered to by Minister, that resulted in the embarassing scence (HLOKOLOZA)is a result of a political appointment we call Pitso, who was given the mondate to improve Bafana's rankings on the world football's list. The start Minister is with clown to end the circus.

minciyeza: 2012-02-08 11:08

nd dont forget Mr Mbalula to ask them to pay Matatazela(dat sangoma of world cup fiasco dat involve france game nd Nonkonyana "onkonye imali")

KING?: 2012-02-08 11:10


If Black people can understand what we mean by Ethics n Competency, then our future will be restored.

at this very moment, Politics are an order of the day.

Mbalula has some good ideas yet he cannot shoot his fellow comrades down. SAFA is run by ANC elites and this is a fact.

Dodo: 2012-02-08 11:10

Heheheee...KO have convinietly left out the scandal of match fixing in order to help BB rise up the rankings prior to 2010 in their story? No wonder Pitso always does well in friendlies!

Squdeyibucs: 2012-02-08 11:13

TP you spot on my friend I wish you were here so that I can shake your hand! I fail to understand the logic behind criticising and calling for Pitso's head when we dont have enough depth in the National team. The fact that development is not a priority in this country means that we would never have quality players. Teko Modise was discovered at 27 years of age what is that and at that age we still want to develop him! The sooner we start developing players the better!!!

KING?: 2012-02-08 11:16


i mean how do you trust a teacher who has achieved an E GRADE SG to produce A students.

Our system is F*cked up. This country needs competent managers and good leaders.

KING?: 2012-02-08 11:26


Squdeyibucs: This has nothing to do with depth, Great leaders formed great teams based on teamwork and understanding of strength and culture not depth.

eg Korea Japan, there was not much talent on that team yet they went all the way because of preparation,leadership,culture, playing to their strengths and competence.

If we blame this to development who responsibility is development, SAFA does n't own a club or players. If you want to blame someone pertaining development, please look at club owners.

Pitso is incompetent and was politically appointed finish and klaar.

mr cool  : 2012-02-08 11:28

people can point out lot of reasons why we are on a downward spiral but Pitso is still the part of a problem not the part of the solution were Lucas, Doctor , Fish , jerry etc coming from a proper development ? what system is Pitso playing ?
are u blaming the development for Gaxa playing at the left back ?
for Pitso to play Parker and Majoro in Niger?
for Pitso to play khuboni, kekane,manyisa and maluleka at the same time against zimbabwe
let just fire this clueless coach please...

Mamoduwe : 2012-02-08 11:28

@TP, I see you're amongst the masses who likes to through the word "DEVELOPMENT" around as if it will solve everything that has to do with the mess our football finds itself in, for me development is not the main problem for our national teams' failures, I see the following factors listed below contributing a lot to our football failures:-

(a) lack of competitiveness from our players,
(b) lack of proper planning by our technical teams and our football adminstrators. The leadership crisis at SAFA just leaves much to be desired.
(c) lack of promotion when it comes to youngsters, when was the last time we saw a Steve Lekoela or John Moshoeu whom in their times were introduced to the premeire league football at the tender age of +/- 15 years? Why wait if the gutsy whiz boy is talented and skilled? WHY? Remember I said talented and skilled!
(d) Disharmony between SAFA & PSL, why do we have personalities clashes?
(e) The pool of talent is too low for my liking, The PSL league must increase to 20 teams, then we can have the likes of abo Katlego Mphela avaraging at 30 plus goals per season. Avalanges of defenders, midfielders and strikers to choose from.
(f) lack of exports to big leagues is really haunting our progress.

In conclusion, development or an academy will never make a country win the FIFA World Cup, but the will, the level of competitiveness, the amount of planning, the passion and commitment from everyone including the fans will also go a long a way.

DEVELOPMENT FOR ME IS LIKE A K53 DRIVING MANUAL WHICH YOU CAN BUY IN A STATIONERY STORE.

I don't think Minister of Koekemoer aka Fikile Mbalula will tell us something new.







Yellow I Was, Yellow I Am & Yellow I Will Remain! [SMILING:-)]

KING?: 2012-02-08 11:42


Mamoduwe: i love people who look at a holistic view. This is does n't need a quick fix. Its deeper than what people think.

If development was an issue, Why is Ajax CT struggling in the domestic league.

brazilitto : 2012-02-08 11:43

development has been there. Players like rhoo, benni, pinnar and a lots more have develop in dose structures. Ask the argentinian and brazilians
I never went to what 1 would say a model C school, but I remember we used to beat them like hell, whether academic wise or sports wise we will beat them. All bcos of our teachers who were so good and didicated. In sa we have much better development structures, our biggest problem lies with dose in charge and dat include Pitso

Dr_Prof_(Soccer Analyst_Anti-KickOff and Soccer Laduma): 2012-02-08 11:48

As much as this one would ‘misguidedly’ think heralds a new era for our Sports, in particular football, I remain unconvinced if his intervention will yield the desired result. The biggest change that needs to be effected on all our Sporting codes is appointment of administrators/office-bearers with political affiliations or allowing Sports to be used by politicians to advance their political ambitions. Take Free State for example, the Premier Ace used soccer to advance his desire for provincial premiership, before he could be elected the Premier he served under Sport portfolio, he would arrange free buses for supporters/fans to go and watch Bloemfontein Celtic and Free State Stars respectively and thus he became the ‘darling’ in the province to an extent that he was handsomely rewarded with the provincial premiership. Also the rumours surfaced that Premier and others business elites in the province plotted to hijack Bloemfontein Celtic by demanding that the fans to ask for ‘shares’ in the team, a plot that backfired.

We must also read the well-calculated political moves by Mr Mbalula which can somewhat be ascribed to his personal desire of being elected the General Secretary of the ruling party and thus he will use the sport as the ‘nation-unifier’ to advance this personal wish relatively. I know this may sound an utterly absurd but never ruled out the ‘political will’.

On the anarchical state of SAFA, we should first agree that SAFA should be ‘de-politicised’, an act which is unlikely since the intervention of Minister is ‘political’. Secondly, the number of deputy presidents of SAFA should be reduced to at least one.
Thirdly, it is clear that the current SAFA President has no vision of his own to grow Sports in this country. This is a ‘compromised’ leader to merely thwart another football Mugabe, Dr Khoza from ascending to SAFA Presidency, thus far the incumbent’s Presidency has inarguably led our soccer astray. It is under his presidential tenure that SAFA downrightly misinterpreted rule (Article 14) and subsequently the team’s dream of participating in the continental tournament was deferred.

It is in public knowledge that the relationship between SAFA and PSL is not on good terms, this needs to be resolved expeditiously as a point of departure. The on-going tussle over the release of players selected to represent the national team ha*****herto proved the state of array. It is high time that the electoral system of SAFA President undergo a serious review, this futile system which is similar to that of the ruling political party which is prone to demagogues and political deployment. For example, the same as ANC’s internal process, the SAFA branches nominate their preferred candidate for SAFA Presidency and usually these candidates hibernate to drum up political support at different branches, a process which disregard the leadership qualities. For example, there has been calls that our mother-body should be led by former players, like Zambian Association. It is unlikely because most of these former players are not ‘politicians’ or well-connected within the political circles, therefore misses the political opportunism presented by such prerequisites. Therefore by reviewing the electoral process, perhaps introducing a public endorsed system in which the prospective incumbents for SAFA presidency would submit their ‘expression of interest’ with detailed plan outlining their intentions for development of football in SA. There should also be an imposition of a contractual clause for SAFA Presidency stipulating that should public lose confidence in an incumbent’s execution of office duties, then ‘removal’ could be exercised.

We are currently caught up in the situation whereby SAFA Presidential team has failed completely and the public has lost confidence in them but will serve their presidential tenures until the end, the situation that could possibly deteriorate the state of football anarchy further. If there was such a clause, then all these ‘good-for-nothing’ leaders could have long evacuated their offices. The same way as the public broadcasting of Chief Justice Judge (for SA Constitution), those that apply for SAFA Presidency should undergo a strenuous panel interview.

KING?: 2012-02-08 11:54


Lets not also forget the greed element bolstered by out past.

Black people are not sure how long this freedom will last hence they are piling their pockets at expense of progress and success.

Dooba OPC: 2012-02-08 12:20

Mamoduwe

You are right- this development word is confusing people- and worst of all is confusing safa- I mean if we keep saying development, next week the safa ceo will announce that safa has build a new soccer school- and how will that school differ from the school of excellence or school soccer, or the Motsepe games?

The problem are:
- Soccer bosses/admin: lack of competent managers; not just technical competence, here we talking about lack of strategic thinkers, people who can make sound projections even in a game. All we have are people who do the opposite of strategic thinking like spin doctoring- none understands that prevention is more efficient, effective and better than cure.
Coaches: lack of management skills, wonder why in England coaches are called managers? Its because they are not only responsible for coaching or giving out tactical instructions in the field, but manage the on and off the field characters and behaviours of their most valuable asstes- players. If a player is gifted but has personal or social issues at home, do you think he will concentrate in the field- who should give these players motivation to play, etc?
-players: our players lack confidence in their own abilities- their lack of self-efficacy is killing their whole skill composition. But look at the buffers building towards these problems: players in SA are normally under-educated, that means reasoning intellectually and taking good decisions at the right time is lack or very shallow e.g. during play, an intellectually competent players can be able to decide through experience and intellectual judgement on when to pass or not pass the ball- our players shoot where they are not supposed to shoot, and pass where they are supposed to shoot.
Journos: these people kill SA soccer because they write what they like without thinking of the implications; they lack ethics and kill players by indulgence- believe me it is very painful to die from overparaises e.g. Teko was the victim of this oversimplification and overpraises.
Fans: they dont know what they like- the Carling Cup exposed the Orlando Pierats fan coach who embarrased himself on national TV.

KING?: 2012-02-08 12:33


Dooba OPC: Dooba my Dooba, The lack of strategic thinkers is a big issue my brother.

You have contextualized SA situation, i know we differ from time to time on basis of having fun but your read and that of Dr_Prof_(Soccer ****yst_Anti-KickOff and Soccer Laduma) must be considered for development in this case.

JJR13: 2012-02-08 13:10

Rugby is in very good health in South Africa,why? Schools that have Rugby take i very serious and its very professional even at u13 age groups; there are Craven weeks and Grant K**** week to identify the best South African talent, then they get contracted by Unions, and if they don't make it there many go play in the Varsity Cup and then get noticed by the Unions. Eventhough more and more the Varsity Cup is players that don't make the Superugby squads. EG. UJ is Lions youngsters, Tuks= Bulls youngsters, etc. Soo many development routes to take in Rugby in this country...so many talented players i know of that just can't make it anywhere...lots of talented and Fit well conditioned youngsters in SA.

We need to see this type of competition for places in Football. Starts at a competitive/professional schools league.

Dooba OPC: 2012-02-08 13:46

As a tax paying citizen and a frequent stadium goer (including the fact that I am also a vat payer, and also pay transport fares and unannounced levies attached by brokers like computicket), I believe it is within my rights to claim that Nemathandani and his cronies are chawing my money. And here i am wasting my megabytes (which cost money by the way) and energy (which also cost money because of the food I eat to keep fit and energetic) trying to prove that these people are chawing my money- all these expenses combined can pay a very good lawyer to petition the legality of our dissatisfaction.

So KO bloggers, me for one am tired of speaking about safa- so I call on all concerned citizens (like it or not, we all pay tax- even the unemployed pay tax) to join this populism or whatever the marawa page calls it and let's just strike... talk is cheap and ineffective sometimes... these people have not seen the mass in action, that is why they are so relaxed and busy doing nothing. Same as the other elites of a certain party, they are not delivering because they are the ones who have been doing the striking over the years... so operation F$%%^k safa is on!

bondocean: 2012-02-08 14:13

He is forced to get involved amid the match-fixing allegations. He is the most involved Sports Minister yet so hope he will sort out the mess. SAFA needs internal policy reviews or development. Planning, monitoring and swift action needs to be instilled into this organization.

JJR13: 2012-02-08 16:17

Maybe SAFA should learn from The Sharks academy...have produced over 100 professional Rugby players in a short amount of time and over 10 Springboks too in a releatively short period. Professionalism and a passion for your sport will develop more Top Class players. I do think that we have enough quality players currently involved with Bafana Bafana, but it could be even better. Pienaar, Mphela, Masilela, Jali, Serero, Mahlangu, E.Mot., Khune, etc...Top quality Professional players made in South Africa. Development isn't such a problme currently, cos we can see the talent...the problem is the running of SAFA.

SA have always had some of the best rugby players in the world; but when SARU was a total mess(Too much politics), it didn't matter how good the players were, they didn't play to their potential. SARU sorted out it's problems recently, and now we can say South Africa will bring a World cup to our Shores in under 4 years time, i have no doubt.

Sibusiso: 2012-02-08 17:36

The minister should be wary of FIFA because should SAFA scream interference to FIFA from government, then SA shall be suspended from all FIFA activities, even the AFCON Finals shall be shifted to another country. so the minister should tread carefully!!!