War of words erupts over permit for Parreira

Carlos Parreira's missing medical report, his contract with the South African Football Association and a R1 520 fee stood between the newly appointed Bafana Bafana head coach and his work permit.

But Safa CEO Raymond Hack said the football body was not responsible for the missing documentation that prevented Parreira from starting his more than R58 000-a-day job - until Monday afternoon.

"All the documents came from Brazil and were sealed... We were not responsible for putting them together," said Hack, adding that Safa had not known how much Parreira's work permit would cost.

"What does it matter anyway? The man has received his work permit and hopefully people will now leave him alone to do his job."

Hack earlier responded angrily to reports - attributed to a home affairs departmental spokesperson - which suggested that Parreira would face arrest if he went to work or even take notes while watching televised football matches.

Describing the furore around Parreira's work permit status as a storm in a teacup and "totally over the top", Hack insisted that Parreira's documents had all been submitted and said the 65-year-old would "wait at his residence until his permit is ready".

But Cleo Mosana, spokesperson for Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, on Monday painted a different picture.

"The department received an application for a work permit - submitted by Safa on behalf of Mr Parreira - on February 7 but we could not process it because it was incomplete. We would never have arrested Mr Parreira because of the problems with the permit application.

"It was Safa that contravened the law, not Mr Parreira. We engaged with Safa on Friday and informed them of what was missing. We told them that they needed to submit these documents urgently."

Mosana said the documents were submitted at 4pm on Monday.

Mosana added that Mapisa-Nqakula had been briefed about Parreira's permit issues on Friday and had personally become involved in ensuring that he obtained the necessary documents.

Parreira is expected to begin preparing Bafana Bafana for their African Cup of Nations qualifier against Chad, which is scheduled for the end of next month.