Story audio is generated using AI
By Mahlatse MphahleleSparks flew when the South African Football Association (Safa) appeared before the portfolio committee on sport, arts and culture on Tuesday, where it was disclosed that former Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos was on a pay package of R16.8m a year.That’s R1.4m a month, and it excluded his car, accommodation and a driver. It is significantly higher than the reported R10m that coach Pitso Mosimane, currently in negotiations with Safa, will receive if he gets the Bafana job. By Tuesday afternoon there was still no deal concluded between Mosimane and Safa. Safa CEO Lydia Monyepao was asked to leave the virtual meeting by committee chair Joe McGluwa of the DA after she declined to disclose Broos’ salary. “I cannot answer that question,” Monyepao said as she stuck to her guns when she was repeatedly asked to reveal the coach’s pay. Sport minister Gayton McKenzie intervened to reveal that Broos was earning R1.4m a month. He was supported by McGluwa, who said the figure was in line with recommendations of the information regulator. On the budget that was submitted to the department, it is not only for equipment and training of our referees. On the issue of referees in the country, there is continuous training.— Safa’s finance committee chair Mxolisi Sibam“The salary of the president [Cyril Ramaphosa] is not a secret. There is no coach in the world who does not tell what the salary is. There is no coach whose salary is a secret anywhere in the world,” McKenzie said. “Let us not make problems where there are no problems; we just have to be forthright.”The figure was eventually also disclosed by Safa CFO Gronie Hluyo, who also revealed that Broos would get 10% of the $12m (about R191m) Safa will get from Fifa for Bafana qualifying for the last 32 of the World Cup. Among issues that took centre stage during the at-times tempestuous meeting were VAR, the forthcoming Safa elections and the pre-World Cup visa debacle that saw Bafana leave a day late for North America. On VAR, McKenzie said its implementation would be helpful to the referees and was long overdue. “VAR is not going to be the beginning and end of perfection, but we must have continuous training of referees. Wherever there are people, there are going to be problems.“That is just a fact of life. Safa should have continuous training of referees.” Chair of Safa’s finance committee Mxolisi Sibam said the association’s NEC had mandated the implementation of VAR. “The department gave us R20m, and we put it into a separate bank account. Where the matter is now when it comes to VAR is that the NEC of Safa mandated us as the finance committee to deal with the PFM Act and policies of Safa. “On the budget that was submitted to the department, it is not only for equipment and training of our referees. On the issue of referees in the country, there is continuous training.” On the issue of controversial Bafana team manager Vincent Tseka, who will retire, Monyepao revealed that Safa had advertised the post. “Recently we issued an advert for the position of team manager and indicated the requirement of a bachelor’s degree in sports management and five years’ experience or a matric and 10 years’ experience,” she said.
