The Rep 05 August 2022

THE REPRESENTATIVE 5 August 2022 Tel: (045) 839-4040 / editorial: mjekulal@therep.co.za / advertising: charodinev@therep.co.za 7
Banyana Banyana must be
paid what they deserve
Iwatched with interest the hype
generated by the WAFCON win of our
wo m e n ’s national team Banyana
B a nya n a .
People who have never watched a
single Banyana game suddenly became
interested in the whole story and many had
a lot of opinions about it.
The most spoken-about aspect was
money: how much they should be paid
versus what they were actually being paid,
or promised to be paid. Everyone had an
opinion, all of a sudden.
Sadly, many were speaking from
positions of absolute ignorance as they
were occasional sport followers. People
who, a week before, could not name a
single Banyana player now had opinions
about them and the game itself.
Safa made a promise to the women that
each would receive R400,000 upon their
being crowned African champions.
Then, when the women won, there was
a call for Safa to honour that commitment.
Fair enough. However, the statement by
Safa president Danny Jordaan seemed to
be saying something different and led to a
lot of confusion.
Many began to think Safa was reneging
on the promise to pay the women what
they had been promised.
For me there are two issues at play here.
Safa paying them what they promised and
another one which a lot of people, not
really connected to the game, have made
— equal pay with Bafana Bafana.
When the team departed this is
what Jordaan said: “We are going to pay
R9.2m in bonuses for this team on the basis
that they win the Awcon. So if they win
Awcon we will pay R9.2m.
“If you look at the other costs, in other
words our total investment in this team for
specifically this Awcon, it is R10m,” said
Jo r d a a n .
The team won the tournament and are
expecting Safa to honour that promise. I
will not get into any other peripheral
discussion on the matter and delve into
innuendos and speculations.
A lot has been said since the win so I
will ignore it and hold to what was
officially said by the Safa president.
On the second issue of equal pay for
both national teams, those making that call
clearly are ignorant of football economics.
There are many ways a team generates
money — through sponsorship, gate
IN TOUCH
Phumelele P Hlati
takings and TV rights. Sponsorship and TV
rights follow after spectator support. The
more people who watch the game live, the
more interest it will garner from TV and
then sponsors will inevitably follow.
Eyeballs attract TV and TV attracts
sponsors. That is how it works.
Of the many who call for equal pay,
how many actually watch the women’s
game, either in the stadium or on TV, when
it is aired? How many take in women’s
football content on the various media
platforms?
The equal pay issue is at the end of the
spectrum. We should start with first things
first. Watch and follow the women’s game,
then money will follow.
The mere fact that the bonuses will have
to be paid from the prize money is an
indication that women’s football generates
next to nothing. It has very little
commercial value at present.
Until that changes, equal pay would be
a suicide mission for the cash-strapped
Safa. Money doesn’t grow on trees,
u n f o r t u n a t e l y.
We need to leverage the Wafcon win to
grow the women’s game and make it
attractive for sponsors.
We need to hold on to the occasional
spectactors and make them permanent.
Then we can talk about equal pay.
WAFCON CHAMPS: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with the WAFCON
t ro p h y at his meeting with Banyana Banyana at Union Buildings on July 27 in
P re t o r i a after the SA women’s soccer team won the 2022 WAFCON finals by
beating Morocco 2-1 at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Morocco P i c t u re :
GALLO IMAGES/ALET PRETORIUS
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REP REPORTER
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#BasicFinancialLiteracy: Young women need to be
aware and fight temptation of clothing, retail debt
I thought because it’s
# Wo m e n s M o n t h , I should start
by warning young women
against the temptation of finding
themselves accumulating
unnecessary debt during their
student years.
I’m not sure how things work
these days, but during my time,
it was very easy to open a
clothing account just using a
student card.
I’m focusing my attention
especially on young women
because of this month and, most
importantly, because as women
we are the ones most tempted
by such debt. I’m not saying that
young men are not, but it seems
like the temptation to just keep
on buying clothes even when
we don’t need them is a woman
thing. Most men I know often
tease us, especially before a big
event, when they say we always
complain about not having
clothes even though our
wardrobes are normally full.
Empower ment
Zone
Miranda Lusiba
I digress. When I was a
student in Durban, I had three
retail shop assistants
approaching my friends and I in
town to entice us to take on
clothing accounts.
The process was so easy –
we only needed our student
cards and IDs to open the
account and then get a large
credit amount to buy. The
problem came at the end of the
month when I got my allowance
– the money was just enough for
food, toiletries and transport
where required, and I was left
with very little to do anything
else. To be honest, I think even
in months when I could be good
and pay what I owed, I came up
with excuses. There was always
something more important to
use the money on than my retail
debt.
The address I gave when I
was opening the accounts was
my home address here in
Komani so my grandmother
would get the letters from the
retail shops on my behalf. The
thing is, it’s nice to buy things
using the credit given to you,
but it’s always difficult to pay.
I noticed that every time I
bought something new, had
worn it a few times and washed
it , I then moved on to wanting
something else. I also
conveniently forgot what I now
had to pay when the account
statement was sent to me. It felt
like a grudge purchase when I
now had to pay for what I’d
bought, used and moved on
from.
Regardless of that, the retail
shops were still there wanting
their money. I saw how serious
it was when I started receiving
letters written on red paper in
red envelopes. I started realising
the amount of trouble I was in.
Because I used a student
loan to study, when I started
working, this was waiting for me
to pay back as well. On the
other side, the unnecessary
retail debt was also lurking in
the background waiting to be
paid. The calls I received from
private numbers at about 8pm
while I was watching soapies
with my family were also a rude
awa k e n i n g .
When I got my first job, I
knew I needed to do the right
thing and pay all of these off.
I paid all three retail
accounts and closed them when
I was done because I had learnt
a tough lesson and now knew
that I was bad at managing retail
debt especially. Over the years, I
made a conscious decision to
avoid opening other clothing
accounts.
My next temptation when I
started working came from
credit cards that were offered to
me by the different financial
institutions that I was banking
with at the time. Like the retail
account, I messed up in the way
I managed these credit cards as
well – but that is a story for
another day.
My advice to the young
women going to tertiary
institutions next year is to try by
all means to avoid the financial
mistakes I made during my
student days. Try by all means to
manage your finances wisely
from early on.
For more info, contact me
on: C: +27 (0)68-029-8760
(voice calls); C: +27 (0)78-675-
1297 (WhatsApp) E: m i ra n d a @
s t ra n g e c o n s u l t i n g . c o . z a and
O ra 4 1 1 7 @ g m a i l . c o m .
Miranda Lusiba is the
founding director of Strangé
Consulting, a boutique PR
agency specialising in
communication, media
relations, freelance writing,
reputation management and
media training.
# s e l f e m p ow e r m e n t
**Disclaimer: Miranda
Lusiba & STRANGÉ
CONSULTING retain all title,
ownership and intellectual
property (IP) rights to these
columns and trademarks
contained in all other
information and supporting
documents as well. This is in
accordance with the SA:
Copyright Act 98 of 1978
(amended) Intellectual Property
Laws Amendment Act 38 of
1997.