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Workers say they refuse to be sacrificed at the altar due to the association’s faults.
Bafana Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki is one of the Safa employees who are set to be affected by proposed salary cuts.
City Press can reveal that Safa wants to impose a mandatory 15% pay cut across all its divisions to reduce its annual salary budget “by at least R20 million to avoid bankruptcy”.
It has emerged that staff members have opposed the planned move through their representatives, who met with Safa chief financial officer Gronie Hluyo on Wednesday.
However, Safa has warned that those opposing the move could face retrenchments.
Safa head of communications Dominic Chimhavi told City Press: “As initially articulated, staff will have to agree to a salary cut. Those who don’t agree can take a voluntary retrenchment package. Those are the two options on the table. These are difficult times, which call for difficult decisions.”
The response by Chimhavi echoed the contents of a letter dated May 3, which was sent to all Safa staff members informing them of a suggested pay cut and/or possible job cuts.
The document, which City Press has seen, highlighted that the association had “to reduce the current annual salary bill by at least R20 million to avoid bankruptcy and repercussions from our sponsors”.
“Unfortunately, we only have two options for us to achieve the desired reduction. The first option is to reduce the salary rates (employees’ salary reductions) or to reduce our headcount (natural attrition and retrenchments – both voluntary and forced),” read part of the letter.
The letter, signed by Hluyo, also laid bare Safa’s financial burden.
“As you are no doubt aware, our association has been experiencing some financial difficulties for almost three years now. Our audited financial statements, which are public documents and are also freely available on our website, clearly show that our financial performances have been significantly affected by dwindling revenues.
“In the 2018 financial year, we reported a loss of R18 million and we reported another loss of R74 million last year. So, cumulatively, we reported a total loss of R92 million over the past two years. Simply put, we spent R92 million more than the money that we had. This resulted in an accumulation of unsettled debts, which we are still paying through settlement agreements.
“When an entity has recorded losses, it becomes imperative to implement a financial recovery plan, which should include, among other [interventions], increasing the revenue and costs reduction.”
Chimhavi admitted that the letter painted a gloomy picture of Safa’s finances, mainly because of what the association’s sponsors are going through.
Read: Tim Spirit | It’s about time Safa was investigated
“As everyone is aware, all entities are going through tough times financially owing to the nationwide Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown, and Safa is no exception.
“The association derives most of its income from events and we have had no events since March, and this is likely to persist until next year.
“We don’t condone members rushing to the media regarding internal processes as this is a flagrant breach of the Safa communications policy, and carries dire consequences if we identify the culprit.
“That said, the issue that Safa’s chief financial officer articulated to the staff members is a national executive committee policy following recommendations by senior management. In most cases these days, companies just lay off workers or unilaterally reduce salaries, with others getting no salary at all. Safa, as a caring organisation, decided to consult staff on the process and it is unfortunate that employees don’t see the employer’s goodwill.”
Asked specifically about Ntseki, Chimhavi said: “As I said, all national teams are unlikely to play football owing to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.”
Safa has been reviewing its entire cost structure through a costs reduction programme that has been in operation for some time, but it is yet to achieve its objective.
No pay cut, no retrenchments
Meanwhile, the seven-member task team representing the workers is expected to report back to its members.
A member, who cannot be identified, has accused Safa of not going through a consultation process.
“Firstly, we were not consulted and they wanted to impose the decision on us. The fact that management has taken a 15% pay cut does not affect us.
“We have cleaners and other office workers who are earning peanuts; just imagine if you take 15% from their salaries, what would they be left with?”
The member said they were prepared to fight to the bitter end to oppose the move.
“What’s worse is that this has got nothing to do with Covid-19 and it will be a permanent thing because [there is no telling] when the association will be financially stable.
“Our financial year ends in July and we believe this year’s budget was done last year, but now they want to cut our salaries in the middle of the year. How is that possible?
"We are again saying we are not part of those who created deficit, so why make us the solution to their problems? We have not received increments for six years and we have lived with that.”
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