The New National Party (NNP) called on Tuesday for sport Minister Ngconde Balfour to intervene in the ”farce” surrounding the selection of the South African team to host England in Durban on Thursday night.
”The NNP calls on the Minister of Sport to intervene in this issue and get the different parties to put South Africa’s best interest at the top of their agenda,” NNP sport representative Stan Simmons said in a statement.
Simmons was commenting on the debacle that unfolded when Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba, at a media conference last week, announced a 24-man team that excluded many international-based players.
The SA Football Association’s senior administrator Barney Kujane took to the podium after Mashaba and read a statement saying Mashaba’s team would change anytime before the friendly. This left Mashaba fuming.
The Bafana Bafana-England encounter is being hosted to promote South Africa’s 2010 world cup bid because of the stature of the match.
However, when the match was announced last year, it was reported as a reciprocal match between the two countries. There was no mention of it being used to launch South Africa’s international world cup bid.
Later Mashaba was subsequently sidelined as coach for the match because he said he would not be able to coach ”players that refused to play for him before”, and was replaced by Jomo Cosmos coach Jomo Sono.
”The NNP is perturbed at the farce surrounding the selection of the Bafana Bafana team to play England on Thursday. This match is also the official launch of the South African bid for the Soccer World Cup of 2010,” Simmons said.
He questioned whether soccer’s international governing body Fifa (International Federation of Football Association) could have confidence in South African soccer administration ”if they can not even cope with the selection of the national team”.
”This is not the first time soccer administrators allow their own egos to get in the way of good administration.” – Sapa