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Safa-Sasfa turf war rages on

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Safa CEO Dennis Mumble is not concerned about Sasfa’s court action. Picture: Duif du Toit /Gallo Images
Safa CEO Dennis Mumble is not concerned about Sasfa’s court action. Picture: Duif du Toit /Gallo Images

The turf war between the SA Schools Football Association (Sasfa) and Safa is far from over.

The schools’ football body has accused Safa of contempt of court after it endorsed the resolution to disband Sasfa at last month’s extraordinary Safa congress in Cape Town.

Safa chief executive Dennis Mumble said: “Safa’s position on this matter is clear in that it has opposed the actions by Sasfa to arbitrate the matter on the basis of their conditions, which are contrary to the Safa statute they were obliged to abide by when they were a member of Safa. Safa has filed its papers in this regard.

“All associate members are currently being audited.

“Safa has opposed Sasfa’s attempts to tailor the arbitration procedures and terms to suit its preferences and not to conduct the arbitration in terms of Safa’s rules that are applicable to all its members. We await a decision from the court with respect to whether we follow our own rules and regulations.”

Last month, Safa president Danny Jordaan told the media that “there is no more Sasfa in our constitution”.

“We [Safa] will take direct responsibility for school sport. A new standing committee has been formulated,” said Jordaan at the time.

He said the process through which regions would take control of school sport would ensure that participation was wider and more inclusive.

“What this means, as well, is that more youths will be involved in the game of football, meaning more resources will have to be poured into the structures, as there will be a need for more coaches, referees and competition resources.”

This is despite a court process under way to set aside Safa’s congress decision to expel Sasfa in March.

Sasfa has sought arbitration to decide on the matter. It is arguing that the Mbombela constitutional congress that took the decision in March had no right to do so, as it was not on the agenda prior to the meeting.

Sasfa president Mandla “Shoes” Mazibuko said they wanted closure on the issue.

“The fact that Safa has formed an interim committee and a parallel structure is not only divisive, it is intransigent and irresponsible. We don’t want parallel structures in our country. If there was any improvement for football development that anybody wanted to propose, Safa should have sat down with its member, Sasfa, to say: ‘Do it this way.’ If we had failed, they would have had a case,” said Mazibuko.

Sasfa is going ahead with its programmes despite being kicked out by the mother body last month.

Last weekend, the two parties showed unity in front of Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga in the finals of the Kay Motsepe Cup at the Nike Training Centre in Soweto. A high-ranking Sasfa official said they were not bothered by Safa’s stance and said it was business as usual for them.

“We are still teachers and operate within the parameters of education, and if Safa wants to run football, they can do it after school and on weekends,” said the official, who did not want to be identified as he was not mandated to speak on behalf of the organisation.

Last month, they renewed their sponsorship with Coca-Cola and were on the verge of renewing two more, according to the source.

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