The SA Football Association (Safa) is at loggerheads with its staff members once more.
Some staff members told City Press that they were surprised when money was deducted from their June salaries without their knowledge, and they have vowed to fight back.
“I was surprised when money was deducted from my salary without a warning. This is unfair because I don’t earn a lot. Imagine if a few thousand is taken from that salary – I am left with nothing. But I am not the only one as many of us have also gone through the same thing,” said an employee who did not want to be identified for fear of victimisation.
The source said they heard rumours that there was an effort to cut staff salaries because the organisation was not doing well financially.
“We thought this was done to balance the books because it is the end of the financial year.”
However, Safa CEO Dennis Mumble defended his organisation’s actions, saying this was a long time in coming and the affected staff members had been warned beforehand.
He said there was nothing sinister about the move as this was money owed to the association that staff members had spent and not accounted for.
“Everybody has to account when they spend the association’s money. We warned them a long time ago about what was coming their way,” said Mumble.
“I even raised this at a staff meeting last month, when I told them that they should expect this. Some of them had not accounted for spending over four years, and they expect us to just forget about it.”
He said some of the money was taken as an advance.
Mumble said the affected members were given three options: “We told them to either bring proof of their expenses, to pay back the money or for the money to be deducted, and they did none of these.
“We were left with no option but to get it ourselves, and we will continue doing so until they start accounting.”