Safa and SABC to extend negotiations

The South African Football Association’s broadcast deal with the SABC is set to expire on Thursday without a new contract having been agreed to.

Both parties conceded on Tuesday that they may have to extend the negotiations’ period because common ground had yet to be found four months after talks began.

“The negotiation process is still under way. We have agreed that we should not be talking about this in the media. What I can say is that we have an arrangement in place that should the current contract expire before a new one is signed, we can still continue working together,” Safa president Kirsten Nematandani said on Tuesday.

This assertion was backed by SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago, who saw nothing wrong with long negotiations heading into a fourth month. “There’s always room to negotiate beyond the expiry date of the current deal. There is engagement between the parties,” Kganyago said.

While both Kganyago and Nematandani were united in their opinion that there’s nothing wrong with negotiations stretching beyond Thursday’s deadline, neither could say when the process would be completed. Asked if a new deal would be in place by the time Bafana play their next match away to Egypt in June, Kganyago responded: “We hope so.”

The fact that Safa are set to miss yet another deadline is likely to escalate perceptions that Nematandani’s administration is as inefficient as the one they replaced two years ago.

Only last week Safa failed to live up to their promise of appointing a chief executive two months after they had said the position would “be filled by April 1”. A statement from Safa said the process would start anew as three candidates, shortlisted from an original list of 100 applicants, were “not suitably qualified”. It is unclear why Safa shortlisted them in the first place.

But Nematandani strongly defended his administration on Tuesday, reasoning Safa were more transparent and would not merely seek to fill a vacancy as key as CEO simply to meet a deadline.

“The fact is whoever you appoint there has to be suitable. We felt that the three people who were on the shortlist were not, and we were open about it. We will not hide anything. If we don’t have the right candidate, we will have to look for one,” the Safa president said.

Pinky Lehoko continues to act in the CEO position.

On the issue of the technical sponsor for national teams, Nematandani was again non-committal as to when the process would end. Safa’s contract with adidas expired in December, but glaringly, all national teams continue to use the kit from the German sports apparel maker.

It has been established that the kit worn by Bafana in their match against Egypt last week was purchased over the counter. “We couldn’t unveil our new kit sponsors last month because we were still tying up a few loose ends,” Nematandani insisted. - The Star