Soccer
SAFA can't pay bills?
2010-01-22 09:25
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Johannesburg - The SA Football Association (SAFA) is struggling with cash flow problems, the
Mail&Guardian reported on Friday.
The weekly newspaper said it had access to SAFA's bank accounts which showed a negative balance of more than R7.4 million.
It said other SAFA documents showed that it also owed suppliers another R7 million.
A senior SAFA official, who was not named in the report, said the situation was even bleaker than that.
"We are close to R10 million in the red, excluding what we need to pay our suppliers," he said.
"It's becoming increasingly difficult to run the sport smoothly in the country. The majority of our regions have not received their grants, which has paralysed the game in these affected areas."
A letter written by the SAFA Waterberg region which was leaked to the
Mail&Guardian said the region was facing eviction from its office, had not paid its phone bills and owed staff members their salaries.
But former SAFA chief executive Raymond Hack told the weekly paper that allegations of financial problems were "absolute nonsense".
"The SABC alone owes SAFA almost R27 million," said Hack, who resigned from his position early in January.
"Even if we had a worst-case scenario of owing the bank R3 million, which I doubt very much, SAFA's books would still indicate a healthy balance of R24 million.
"I am reliably informed that the SABC will pay... this week which should sort out any financial problems," said Hack, who reported a R32 million profit for SAFA last September.
SAFA's vice-president for finance, Mandla Mazibuko, confirmed to the
Mail&Guardian that Hack left SAFA's account in a deficit but would not give any figure.
"It's really too early for me to comment because I'm still going through the books," said Mazibuko.
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