Safa’s accountability crisis is nothing new

SAFA and accountability are just like the parallel lines of a railway line, destined never to meet.

- MATSHELANE MAMABOLO

This much has once again been proven by their reaction to the punishment meted out to Bafana Bafana for their having played a suspended Teboho Mokoena in that 2-0 defeat of Lesotho back in March.

To the uninitiated, world governing body Fifa have - as per the rules pertaining to the use of defaulters - overturned that victory into a 3-0 win for Lesotho.

As a result, Bafana have now dropped to second spot in Group C of the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, behind Benin who have similar 14 points to us but enjoy a better goal difference.

Having known for a while now that there was a balls-up on their part, you'd have expected Safa to have long done their investigations to see who failed in their duties to ensure that such a blooper does not happen. But no, typical of South Africans, they wished things away, hiding behind the fact that Lesotho had not protested within the 24 hours and clearly hoping that Fifa would do nothing.

When the logical verdict from Switzerland came, Danny Jordaan and his people did not take the punishment on the chin as they should have, knowing only too well that they were in the wrong.