South African President Thabo Mbeki said on Monday that Bafana Bafana is not a fitting name for a national team.
”What kind of a name is it? I don’t think it is fit for a senior national team or for the hosts of the 2010 Fifa World Cup,” he told Metro FM on Monday.
”We need to revisit the names of teams like Bafana Bafana, Banyana Banyana [the senior women’s soccer team], Amaglug-glug [the under-23 soccer team].”
He said the public should participate in choosing new names for the country’s national teams.
”A team name should be representative of the country, its values and it should be highly regarded in the world of sport.”
Mbeki was invited to speak about the Springboks’ recent Rugby World Cup victory in Paris.
”I’m not saying we must call all our national teams Springboks, but we have to change the names, the emblems and the colours the teams wear, so that they can be recognised as representatives of South Africa.”
Bafana Bafana’s colours have changed from gold to yellow and other variations since readmission in 1992 while the Springboks have always donned the famous green kit with gold trimmings – Sapa