Safa awaits minister’s nod on Bafana friendlies
No competition to replace Telkom Cup
The SA Football Association (Safa) is waiting for sport minister Nathi Mthethwa to give them the green light to continue with their preparations for October’s friendly matches.
Safa has scheduled friendly matches for Bafana Bafana against Zambia and Namibia during the Fifa international break on October 8 and 11 in Rustenburg, North West.
Bafana head coach Molefi Ntseki was supposed to have announced the squad for the two matches last week Wednesday, but he was told not to go ahead with that by Safa.
The national football governing body is unable to issue the call-up letters to clubs until they know where they stand with the international travel regulations.
Zambia and Namibia’s hands are also tied as they cannot announce their squads to face Bafana.
Bafana are hoping to use the friendly matches to fine-tune their preparations for back-toback Cameroon 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against São Tomé and Príncipe in November.
Safa spokesperson Dominic Chimhavi says Safa has already written a letter to Mthethwa to clarify the confusion surrounding the international travel regulations.
“We want to know if flights coming from Namibia and Zambia will be allowed into the country. Do the players have to go through Covid-19 tests and quarantine?
“For people to travel from Namibia or SA travel to Namibia, there are lockdown requirements, that’s what has stopped us from announcing the squad,” Chimhavi said.
Insiders at the sports ministry said the minister had received the letter and would respond to Safa’s request this week.
“Level 1 regulations had been published on September 17 and 18.
“The outstanding issues are the directions to be published before the end of this week as we are still waiting for the justice department to finalise the vetting.
“On international sporting events, the matter has been referred to MATJOINT [the committee which makes decisions on Covid-19] economic and containment workstream for inputs and advice,” an insider said.
“The minister is pushing the justice ministry to give him the green light.”
Mthethwa’s spokesperson, Masechaba Khumalo, said the minister would advise the public on the next steps this week.
“This week, the government is considering international travel generally and the reopening of sporting events in this regard.
“You will be advised before the end of the week,” Khumalo said.