South Africa’s sports minister has said his nation was “being made to look like fools” after its football team was delayed travelling to Mexico ahead of the World Cup due to visa issues.
Gayton McKenzie demanded an explanation from South Africa’s football association (Safa) as to why this had happened, adding: “Action must be taken against those responsible for this mess.”
Safa admitted the team had “experienced challenges regarding visas for some players and officials” but did not give further details.
McKenzie later confirmed all the players had received permission to travel and would be leaving for the international tournament on Monday.
National broadcaster SABC described what happened as an “administrative bungle”.
The team, nicknamed Bafana Bafana, are due to face Jamaica in a friendly in Mexico on Friday.
They will then play in the World Cup opening match against Mexico, which is co-hosting the competition alongside the US and Canada, on 11 June.
“This Safa travel & visa debacle is embarrassing & grossly unfair towards the players & coaching staff,” McKenzie had written on X earlier on Sunday.
Shortly after the minister’s comments, a brief statement from Safa said it was “working around the clock to ensure that the team travels to Mexico City as soon as possible ahead of the opening match”.
Efforts were made on Sunday to get the team US visas, according to South African news site TimesLive.
The Bafana Bafana squad and staff need permission to enter the US as they play their second World Cup game against the Czech Republic in Atlanta, in the US state of Georgia.
The government’s international relations department was also involved.
It seems that the efforts paid off, with McKenzie saying on Sunday evening that a chartered flight would be leaving on Monday with all the players onboard.
However visas had not yet been secured for the “assistant coach, team doctor, head of security and one analyst”, he said.
South Africa is one of 10 African nations taking part in the expanded 48-team World Cup.
The game against Jamaica will be Bafana Bafana’s last chance to get ready for the tournament, which they last appeared at when South Africa hosted the finals in 2010.
Their final home match on Friday - a 0-0 draw against Nicaragua that included a missed South African penalty - was described in some reports as “disappointing” and extended their winless run to four games.
Paywall
If you have a VPN set your location to the UK.
The BBC is only paywalled for people in other countries.
Here in Greece it’s not, weird.
Maybe because its part of the European broadcasting union?
Op might have been in America or something.
Thought for sure this was the US being assholes again, but seems like maybe not this time?
The South African Football Association (Safa) admitted the team had “experienced challenges regarding Visas for some players and officials” but did not give further details. National broadcaster SABC described what happened as an “administrative bungle”.
I don’t think there are many things that South Africa does that doesn’t make them look like fools.
They have a pretty based take on Israel
Ah yes of course. That one stance makes up for all the other bullshit South Africa does.
The Minister of Sports, Gayton McKenzie, didn’t seem to have any problem travelling to Israel in 2023 and 2025 to seek deals to get Israeli water tech to south Africa. He sent a delegation to go to Israel and meet it’s president, and guess what? They apparently found “no evidence of apartheid” there.
Ah yes, McKenzie who is the president of the Ultra Right wing opposition party (Patriotic Alliance), very racist, very corrupt (gang ties, bribery, embezzlement), and constantly tries to buddy up to Israel because I’m sure Israel doesn’t have a vested interest to promote the opposition in a country calling out their apartheid - especially one that’s just as xenophobic and racist as Israelis.
Probably best to look at who you’re referencing when trying to muddy the waters.
I know who he is. I’m not “muddying the waters”. I don’t get how you can appoint someone like that (a convicted criminal) to be the “Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture” after filling a case against Israel.
South Africa isn’t a totalitarian state, it’s a proportional representative Republic. Which means that if a party has X percentage of votes and seats, they get a seat. South Africa have the GNU (government of national unity) coalition and McKenzie said that he would walk away if he wasn’t given a seat - thereby dissolving government. So he was given the sports ministry, the most insignificant position since the World Cup way back when. And in that role, he’s just pushed his racist rhetoric and corruption
How can you appoint someone like that (a convicted criminal)
- people serve their time and can run in elections and get voted in. Nelson Mandela did it.
So if someone wants to bring up something that they’re not very informed about, it’s called “muddying the waters” of discourse, especially when that person wants to try and push their rhetoric on whether Israel is apartheid and what South Africa’s more accepted stance is on the topic.
Like, why even bring it up if you don’t know much about the politics involved? What point are you arguing by saying that this voice in South African politics says that apartheid doesn’t exist? Should we argue the Jim Crow policies didn’t exist because some MAGAT said so and platform them?
I wasn’t trying to argue South Africa’s stance on Israel, I just thought that it was ironic to bring up their stance on Israel when the minister in the article is pro Israel.
My original point was that South Africa rarely does anything that doesn’t make it look like a fool and I think McKenzie being in charge of Arts and Culture is foolish. I assume you already know why the GNU exists? Because you’d know that they wouldn’t be in that position if the ruling party wasn’t allowing the country to crumble.
Fuck you too.
(You’re not wrong though)
