Bafana: A bunch of winners!

These were the headlines that greeted Bafana Bafana, with the comments coming from none other than the then Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula, after the team’s 3-1 defeat to Nigeria in the 2014 African Nations Championship.

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Mbalula also claimed Bafana were “useless”, made reference to their “mediocrity”, and stated that “we indeed have a crisis of monumental proportions”.

Contrast this to the jubilant celebration scenes, led by current Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie screaming into the cameras “Siyaya e-America” on Tuesday evening at Nelspruit’s Mbombela Stadium after Bafana qualified for next year’s Fifa World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

For Bafana to have come this far is staggering.

It’s pinch me, wake up, everybody's dreaming territory.

Qualification for a first Fifa World Cup since 2002 was achieved despite the off-field sagas of Safa being debt-ridden leading to the national football’s governing body needing a R5 million bailout from McKenzie’ portfolio last December to settle outstanding player remuneration.

This was on top of President Danny Jordaan facing fraud charges.