Banyana unhappy over late payment of bonuses by Safa

BANYANA BANYANA striker Jermaine Seoposenwe has admitted “there was a large amount of unhappiness” due to the late payment of their Africa Women’s Cup of Nations bonuses, but the players were never threatening any form of strike action.

Upon arrival home from Ghana, where Banyana finished runners-up and qualified for the Fifa World Cup for the first time, the players only received a portion of the R2.4 million bonus they were promised from Safa.

Banyana face Netherlands in the Winnie Madikazela-Mandela Challenge today at Cape Town Stadium (kick-off 3pm) before another clash against Sweden on Tuesday at the same venue.

“There was a large amount of unhappiness due to the late payment. We felt disrespected as players as there was no communication‚” said Seoposenwe.

“As players, we don’t want to go into games of this magnitude with unhappiness.”

Seoposenwe, though, stressed that at no point were the players not going to take the field.

“When we came together as a team, it (the issue) was vented. But there wasn’t a plan to say we would not do anything,” she said.

“We said‚ let’s go and speak to the team manager, as we are professionals. Let’s treat this in a professional manner. Because she was so swift to get (acting Safa chief executive) Mr Russell (Paul) in‚ we did not get to the point where we felt we needed to take other action.”

Safa acting chief executive Russell Paul admitted that the Awcon bonuses payments would be made later than initially promised, but praised the players for the manner in which the issue was resolved.

“We made a firm commitment to the players prior to them leaving for Ghana with regards bonuses, and we agreed on numbers. We stuck to that commitment and produced a cheque for them‚ in conjunction with (sponsor) Sasol‚ when they arrived home at the airport.

“They got a part-payment of that. Then, due to our offices being closed over the festive season, there was a delay in the balance of the payment from our side.

“The players showed some displeasure around this. We listened, and we made the commitment to pay by February 15. The players obviously would have liked it earlier and, in fact, I can confirm that the payment will, be made today (Friday).

“We are extremely proud of the girls and the way they have conducted themselves. They could have undertaken action that is unbecoming of a national side.”