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The Safa eThekwini SAB League task team has threatened to totally shut down the playing of football in and around Durban, including PSL matches.
This threat comes after a group made up of SAB League club owners picketed at the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium in Clermont last Saturday, causing an ABC Motsepe League (South Africa’s third-tier league) match between Summerfield Dynamos and KwaDabeka Sporting to be abandoned.
This adds to the chaos that has bedevilled the Safa eThekwini region since 2013, when hotly contested elections ended up with the emergence of two parallel structures, one led by Alpha Mchunu (now known as The Hoy Park Group) and one led by Mazwi Mkhize (Curries Fountain Group).
The clubs’ main gripe is that the SAB League that was supposed to kick off last October still has not started, leaving clubs idle.
They formed the task team late last year, with Stripes Dlamini elected as the chairperson. Dlamini told City Press that the clubs had achieved their goal when the referee called off the game on Saturday because “the situation was not conducive for a match to carry on”.
Dlamini added: “This was stage one of our programme of action that will culminate in a total shutdown of all football activities in and around eThekwini, including PSL matches, if Safa and the city does not heed our calls.”
Dlamini said the group received permission from the local police station to picket at the venue, which they did “successfully”.
“We want our voices to be heard. There can’t be football here if our children [who play in the SAB League] can’t play. We are awaiting a response from Russell Paul, Safa’s acting chief executive, and Kwenzakwakhe Ngwenya, the KwaZulu-Natal provincial chairperson, on the issues we raised in November.”
However, a miffed Ngwenya said Safa would take very strong action against those who “caused the match to be abandoned”, adding: “Fortunately, we have video footage of everything that happened and we will deal with the perpetrators accordingly.”
When asked why Safa had let the Safa eThekwini matter drag on for this long, Ngwenya said: “We are dealing with it. Actually, Paseka Nkone, Safa membership affairs chair, will be in Durban to meet with Mchunu and Mkhize. We hope to have this matter resolved before the end of March.”
City Press reported last month that the task team had met with Paul and Safa head of legal affairs Tebogo Motlanthe in November, and were promised a 72-hour turnaround.
“To date, they have not come back to us,” Dlamini said.
He added that there had been delays due to unforeseen circumstances, which Paul confirmed. However, his office was doing its best to deal with the matter “as quickly as possible”.
SAB League club owners affiliated to Safa eThekwini also staged a march to Durban City Hall in November, where they handed a memorandum to the city’s authorities and one to the Curries Fountain Safa eThekwini faction. The Hoy Park faction did not turn up to receive the memorandum, according to Dlamini.
The memorandum addressed to the eThekwini municipality, dated November 14 2018, reads:
“We, the disgruntled footballers of eThekwini, demand the following:
1. We demand immediate intervention in the chaotic affairs of eThekwini football;
2. We demand that the municipality disassociates itself from both the offices up until football is in a good state; and
3. We demand the municipality to avail and maintain all their grounds as per mandate.
NB: We plead for a response within 72 hours. Failure to do so will result in putting eThekwini football activities, including professional football, at a standstill.”
The memo addressed to the Safa eThekwini Curries Fountain group reads:
“We, the disgruntled footballers of eThekwini, demand the following:
1. We demand one eThekwini leadership;
2. We demand one regional office;
3. We demand one SAB League;
4. We demand no parallel structures;
5. We demand financial transparency; and
6. We demand football to be played in peace across all structures in the eThekwini region.”
Dlamini said: “We can’t sit back and fold our arms while our children [in the SAB League] do not play. We will stop all football action in this region, including PSL matches.”
He refused to give details of how they planned to do this, saying only that it was “our secret weapon”.
