South African national female football team and defending African champions, Banyana Banyana, downed tools and went on a brief strike after arriving in Morocco despite unpaid match fees. The South African Football Association (Safa0 has, however, come forward to say the matter has been resolved and the players are back in training.
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The federation’s well-documented current financial struggles seem to be affecting the game. On Saturday, 28 June, reports stated that the disagreement stems from unpaid match fees by Safa after the team played preparation friendlies ahead of their Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) title defence in the continental competition, which kicks off on 5 July. The players arrived in Morocco on Wednesday and are said to have resorted to staging a sit-in and boycotted training, which seemed to work and caught management’s attention.
Federation vice-president, Linda Zwane, dubbed the issue “minor” and said it has been resolved. “It’s a minor issue. It’s an issue of the payments for the previous games they played, particularly the Malawi games. The association then undertook to address that particular matter, and there’s agreement that has been reached with the team, through their captain,” Zwane stated. “As far as we’re concerned, that particular matter is now buried, and the association has made a commitment towards [paying the players], making sure that players continue with their preparations. We want them to perform very well in the tournament, and the reports we are getting are that the team is back in training,” he concluded.
