Johannesburg — The office of the Minister of Sports, led by Nathi Mthethwa, appears to have joined the entities that ride on the success of women’s football to polish their image.
Banyana Banyana continued to be the country’s flag bearers on the continent after reaching the Wafcon semi-final to qualify for the 2023 Fifa World Cup last Thursday.
Whenever they chalk up another form of success, ahead of their male counterparts, it's inevitable that Banyana will receive a flock of congratulatory messages.
Indeed, those messages that flocked on social media in the last few days, coming from fans, former coaches, such as Vera Pauw, politicians like Mthethwa, and corporates, such as Bernini SA.
It was a bleak sight for those who’ve covered women’s football as they know that was for show, with few support, in resources, going to be given to Banyana.
Perhaps, what made the situation even more odd were news that the office of Mthethwa is yet to pay Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies’ team the winning bonus they promised them.
After winning the first ever CAF Women’s Champions League early this year, Sundowns were promised a bonus of R1 million by the sports ministry.
But six months later, the club is yet to receive the incentive, according to a report from online publication FarPost, who spoke with a club official.
That report made it quite clear that it may be a while before women’s football gets the attention it deserves if teams still get empty promises — even from the government.
This feat hasn’t only knocked the spirit of the Sundowns’ players who must have been in cloud nine when they heard of the bonus after playing their hearts out in Egypt.
Instead, it has also tarnished the name of the Sundowns, given that the club official bemoaned how the players are starting to think the money was paid out but didn’t arrive to them.
And lest it be forgotten, this is all in the name of an office that was ready to erect a flag for R22 million. So, what was a lousy R1 million to a deserved team?
Women’s football needs support at the top if it’s going to develop and evolve, given that it brings a glimmer of hope to the nation albeit the inferior treatment it gets.
Safa president Danny Jordaan promised Banyana a cheque of R9.2 million should they dare win their maiden continental crown in Morocco.
But how about he still gives the team the money even if they do not go all the way? After all, qualifying for a second successive World Cup was no child’s play.
IOL Sport