FINDING THE NET
MNINAWA NTLOKO: Dear Mr Safa House, the selection of Mokotjo shows you have learnt nothing
‘It is inconceivable that no one at Safa House thought to have conversations with the player himself, the South African government and Fifa before his selection’
Bafana Bafana caretaker coach Owen da Gama’s decision to select Kamohelo Mokotjo without first confirming some crucial facts about the Dutch-based player’s eligibility to play for SA has crossed from the realm of the baffling into the netherworld of the farcical. The naturalisation ceremony that confirmed Mokotjo as a citizen of the Netherlands in December 2016 was widely reported in the local media. It is inconceivable that no one at Safa House thought to have conversations with the player himself, the South African government and Fifa before his selection. But because this simple task was not done before Da Gama named the man in the squad to face Guinea-Bissau in Durban on Saturday and Angola next Tuesday, the South African Football Association (Safa) has taken a headlong plunge into the absurd.This public relations nightmare, which is threatening to spiral rapidly out of control, could have been avoided if someone had taken the trouble to find out if Mokotjo was still eligible to...
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