Banyana Banyana’s players earn about 10 times less than their male counterparts for match bonuses.
According to Minister of Sport Tokozile Xasa’s answer to a parliamentary question by EFF MP Pebane Moteka, Banyana’s players receive a match bonus of R5 000 for a win in an official match, and R4 000 for a win in a friendly match.
Last year it was reported that Bafana Bafana players earn as high as R60 000 for a win‚ R40 000 for a draw and nothing for a defeat.
Furthermore, Xasa said Banyana players are paid a daily allowance of R400 per day when training with the team while in the country which will be increased to R500 per day to be in line with Bafana Bafana.
“Players as paid a daily allowance of R600,00 per day when away, and this is in line with the new sponsorship arrangement with Sasol, is to be increased to $100 [R1 385,60 at Monday’s afternoon 17:00’s exchange rate] per day to match that of Bafana Bafana,” Xasa’s answer reads.
The payment for tournaments is handled differently, and the payment structure is negotiated with the team depending on the tournament.
“Please note that the payment structure for Banyana Banyana is based on the available resources and funding from the relevant sponsors. In this case, the only sponsor for the team is Sasol, supplemented by SAFA (South African Football Association),” Xasa said.
Banyana Banyana will head to France in June to participate in the Women’s World Cup after their stellar performance in last year’s Afcon tournament. Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis and Banyana-striker Thembi Kgatlana recently won the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Women’s Coach of the Year and Women’s Player of the Year awards.
After going down 1 – 2 against the Netherlands on Saturday, Banyana Banyana will face Sweden on Tuesday in Cape Town.
In another question, Moteka asked what is the budget of Xasa’s department and the entities reporting to her which is dedicated to the development of female sport.
Xasa said National Treasury’s budget template does not provide for such a delineation.
“The department however utilises various instruments including the Grant Framework Conditions and direct dedicated funding as well as conditional funding as instruments to promote the development of female sport,” Xasa said.
She added that the department commenced with the Women in Sport Policy which will guide and drive the development of female sport.
Xasa said the department also tracks the work of Eminent Persons Group on Transformation in Sport, which has been mandated to track and report on the empowerment of women.
Part of the dedicated funding was used to set up leagues like the Netball Premier League and the Premier Hockey League, while one of the conditions set in the conditional grants is 50% participation of females.
According to Xasa, this has led to some success. “In the school School Sport programme 54% of participants are girls and in the Rural Sport Development Programme 58% of the participants are girls.”
Source – News24
