Bafana need our support
IT has been a harrowing week for Bafana Bafana on so many fronts and, if one can use a boxing analogy, the national team seems to be on the ropes.
The news that world governing body Fifa has banished Ghana referee Joseph Lamptey for life for his role in match-fixing in the World Cup qualifier between Bafana Bafana and Senegal places this country back into the glare of controversy again.
Bafana won that match 2-1 and Fifa are weighing whether they should declare the match null and void, meaning it may have to be replayed.
That is not good news for the SA Football Association (Safa), who have made making the cut for the 2018 tournament in Russia a top priority.
The 2010 match-fixing scandal is still a dark cloud over the national team. Many Safa officials were found to be culpable in working with a betting syndicate in fixing pre-2010 World Cup matches to hype up Bafana Bafana’s performances to get the nation behind it at the tournament proper.
Safa has a further headache with the inclusion of Dutch-based midfielder Kamohelo Mokotjo in the squad for the double-header friendlies against Guinea-Bissau in Durban today and then in East London against Angola on Tuesday.
The player, who has Dutch citizenship, has applied to regain his South African status and needs a quick answer from Home Affairs to grant his wish. If he fails, he is out.
Safa must be assured by Home Affairs that all is above board before they dare include him in the team, or the player’s career would be in jeopardy both here and in Holland.
The stakes are high and it may be best for Safa to tread carefully on this one. It is a distraction the team could do without.
It has been over a decade since Bafana Bafana last played in this neck of the woods, with international matches as scarce as hen’s teeth rostered for Buffalo City.
A win over Guinea-Bissau will go a long way to ensure intense interest by Bafana supporters in the Angolan clash.
A great turnout will give the local football authorities all the reason to push their case for more international matches here. Lack of support will prove a debilitating setback.
It is for that reason that various voices would love people to arrive in droves and fill the Buffalo City Stadium.
Provincial sport, recreation, arts and culture spokesman Andile Nduna, Buffalo City Metro mayor Xola Pakati, and Les Holbrook, of the Border-Kei Chamber of Business executive, are reminding the fans of the economic benefits international matches can bring to the region.
Bafana, under interim coach Owen da Gama, must deliver today as it will inspire confidence in the national side, who over the years have struggled to get the nation behind them.
Let this be the start of that rejuvenation, because heaven knows we have waited long enough.