Transnet ditches academy
SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE: LEFT WITHOUT A SPONSOR FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1995
Parents slam cash-strapped entity’s move.
Following late payment of salaries for teachers, coaches, suppliers, and grappling with a runaway electricity and water bill, troubled Transnet has pulled out of Transnet/Safa School of Excellence soccer academy, which is respected for producing talented Bafana Bafana players.
The high school in Germiston has been left without a sponsor for the first time since Transnet came on board in 1995, leaving 120 pupils and 15 staff members in a lurch.
Trials for the new intake of pupils for 2024 have been halted as uncertainty reigns over the future existence of this crown jewel of SA football development.
Over a period of 29 years, Transnet has pumped in more than R200 million into the school for education, soccer training, food, security, lights and water.
Former Bafana stars Steven Pienaar, Dillon Sheppard, Bernard Parker, Daine Klate and Bryce Moon come from the ranks of the School of Excellence.
The cash-strapped entity told The Citizen this week it was down-scaling its community service initiative projects due to financial strife.
It tried two times to leave the school between December 2022 and December 2023, but devastated parents convinced the agency to delay the exit while they assist the school and the SA Football Association to secure another sponsor.
The year passed without a sponsorship deal and Transnet is not hearing another word.
The parastatal will stop paying the salaries of staff at the end of April, leaving the school in limbo.
E-mailed correspondences between parents, the school management, Transnet and the school’s custodian, Safa paints a shocking picture of how the once well-run school has been allowed to degenerate.
According to the paper trail, seen by The Citizen, the catering and security companies that offered their services left after the non-payment of their invoices.
As a result, the boys’ dietary plan and safety have been compromised.
At some stage last year, teachers stayed away from classes during a crucial exam preparation period after their salaries were not paid, a situation parents have identified as a factor behind six of the 24 pupils from the matric class of 2023 failing their exams.
A parent, who did not wish to be named, told The Citizen: “Transnet said it has no money. It will only cushion the salaries of staff until April. The school is buying food from its petty cash.
Those children eat pap and sour milk for breakfast, lunch and supper now.”
In a letter to Transnet CEO, parents slammed the move as irresponsible and non-transparent.
They charged in the three paged letter that the principal Gilbert Molala only learnt about the cancellation of the sponsorship through a forwarded e-mail from Safa, and that no consultation with all the stakeholders, including parents, took place.
A task team was only set up to address the matter and seek a sponsorship only after workers fearing for job losses staged a sitin over their uncertain future, the letter to Transnet CEO read.
The task team negotiated a delay in the cancellation of the sponsorship from 31 March to 31 December, 2023.
The Citizen understands that Transnet has agreed to endure part of the financial burden of the boarding school until end of April to give the school an extra chance to find an alternative sponsor.
There are also fears the staff might be down-sized to cut costs if the school continues to operate.
“So far, only the screening [job selection] of some staff members has been done, and the coaching staff has not been processed, prompting fears they will not be taken and threatening the very existence and identity of the noble institution that is Football School of Excellence,” read the letter to Transnet.
In an e-mailed response to The Citizen, Transnet confirmed that after reviewing its community service initiative in the 2022 financial year, its operating model and its current financial situation, it concluded that it could no longer provide financial support to the School of Excellence.
“Over the past five years alone, the Transnet Foundation has been the sole funder, and has invested over R100 million into the school over this period. Since Transnet got involved in the initiative in 1995, the amount invested by Transnet is well over R200 million,” Transnet added.
The parastatal further told The Citizen it informed Safa of its decision to exit the school as early as December 2022.
The school’s principal could not respond to our questions.
The Citizen reached out to both Safa president Dr Danny Jordaan and the association’s spokesperson Mninawa Ntloko for comment, but their responses were pending by the time of going to press.
We’ve said this before, but it’s worth saying again: far from bringing most people of South Africa a better life, the ANC has brought a bitter life to all but the privileged few. Nowhere is that more in evidence than in our sad story today about the threatened imminent closure of the SA Football Association’s School of Excellence academy.
This follows the decision by cash-strapped stateowned enterprise Transnet to withdraw funding from the institution it has funded for 29 years.
The academy has been the breeding ground of some of South Africa’s top young footballers, many of whom have gone on to represent the country by playing for Bafana Bafana.
Transnet has tried to abandon the school previously because of cash constraints, but has been persuaded to stay on by desperate parents, many of them poor, who see the academy as the way out of poverty for their kids. But now it looks like the withdrawal is final.
Transnet is in a financial hole after three decades of looting and cadre deployment by the ANC. Apart from the demise of this football school, the transport giant’s infrastructure is crumbling.
When you mismanage state assets, everyone suffers, eventually. Does the ANC care, though?