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Cape Town - SAFA's vice president Ria Ledwaba says the mandate for coach Stuart Baxter's Bafana Bafana at the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt is to simply represent the country with pride.
Bafana qualified for the AFCON tournament in June and July in Egypt by defeating Libya 2-1 in their final Group E clash in Tunisia last Sunday night. Percy Tau proved to be the difference by converting a fine brace.
Having reached the main competition for the first time since 2015, Ledwaba insists that no specific performance mandate will be placed on the head of Baxter.
She added that if the national team are simply competitive and put up a good showing, then the South African Football Association would be more than satisfied.
Ledwaba told reporters: "The mandate was to qualify for Egypt, and Stuart has done that. Remember for the first time now there is going to be 24 competing nations, so South Africa must go there and not just add numbers.
"We have a very good team, so we expect them to go there and participate and make the country proud.
"We're not going to say we don't want to win. I'm sure all South Africans want to see the team in the final and bringing back the trophy. That would be good for the country.
"But we are not going to put any kind of mandate and say, 'Go to the final.' We have qualified for Egypt, the team must go there and make South Africa proud.
"We believe with the performance we have seen in Tunisia that they can go there and make us proud."
