Perhaps the football custodians on all levels in South Africa, national, provincial and regional, should officially move their offices as close to the courts as possible.
The reason is that these entities seem to spend more time in a courtroom than anywhere else. Needless to say, the level of controversy when it comes to governance surely depicts a sad state of affairs.
The latest developments in the battle between Safa Cape Town and the Sport Stepping Stones Foundation (SSS) regarding the missing funds have now resurfaced.
No Bones with Jones can confirm that SSS’s legal team, Dalwai Attorneys, is in the process of preparing court papers following “so many shocking discoveries that will be brought to the entire sports industry in South Africa.”
According to SSS’s chairperson, Boebie Cassiem, there were “attempts to resolve the impasse but was met by silence of SAFA CT in terms of their response.”
“We are expressing our disappointment in the President of Safa Cape Town, Bennett Bailey, for putting us in this position under the banner of SAFA as the highest football structure in the country,” Cassiem explained to No Bones with Jones. “He is also the Vice President of SAFA National.
“Hence, we are now suffering prejudice in our sporting campaigns due to his autocracy as president in our region. This is affecting the authorisation of bringing in Palestinian teams to South Africa.
Cassiem further added:
“We are severely disappointed that we are forced to proceed with legal action against SAFA Cape Town and Bailey, considering Bailey sits on the Legal Commission of the highest sporting authority in South Africa, SASCOC,” Cassiem added.
The SSS Foundation, in conjunction with the Safa CT, arranged this football festival dubbed ‘Football for Humanity’ in February 2024 to show their solidarity and support for the ongoing Palestinian struggle.
The SSS Foundation consulted Safa CT – as any football-related matters must be cleared by the region – who in turn sanctioned the ‘Football for Humanity’ initiative. This event was also supported by Safa National and the national government, given the historic and auspices occasion.
Needless to say, the event was a huge success and following the Palestine national team’s two matches, one on 11 February 2024 against a Cape Town Invitational X1, followed by a South African Invitation side a week later on 18 February – even the country’s president Cyril Ramaphosa, attended the event.
But prior to that, It was mutually agreed between SSS and Safa CT that the proceeds of this event must go to the people of Palestine.
Fast forward almost two years and SSS is still seeking answers as to what happened to the proceeds – especially after Safa CT reported a clean financial report at their AGM of 2025.
One can also question Safa CT’s ‘donation’ of R100 000 to the Gift of the Givers in September, when the aim of the Football for Humanity initiative was solely for the people of Palestine.
According to Cassiem, they presented the initiative to Safa CT at the Rondebosch Golf Club on 30 November, where it was agreed that all the funds would be deposited into a new holding account with the region’s president, Bennett Bailey, along with SSS’s duo Cassiem and Noore Naceroedien noted as the signatories.
The account was opened under the registration of ”Sport for Humanity.’
Despite the event being highly successful, the SSS Foundation feels aggrieved that the Mother body had breached the agreement, as the funds were not deposited in the account as initially agreed.
The concerns of the SSS Foundation pertained to the region’s financial report, which was made available for review on 31 October 2024, and its unanimous acceptance by Congress at their annual AGM on 16 February 2025 – three days after their initial legal team, Bawa Abrahams and Associates, sent the correspondence to the region.
The Press release stated the primary topic discussed was that of its Annual Audited Financial report for 2023/24 and was unanimously accepted by Congress.
However, the SSS have raised their concerns via their attorneys, Bawa Abrahams and Associates, and are seeking a more detailed and comprehensive clarification from Safa CT.
