After the successful “Football for Humanity” festival in February 2024, the Sports Stepping Stone (SSS) Foundation has announced plans to take legal action against the South African Football Association (SAFA) Cape Town (CT) over the alleged failure to distribute funds to Palestinians as originally agreed.
The SSS Foundation told VOC News that SAFA CT was responsible for addressing any football protocol issues, which led to a meeting on November 30, 2023, at the Rondebosch Golf Club. During this meeting, several agreements were made, including the creation of a single bank account, with Palestinians designated as the primary beneficiaries of any revenues.
Abubaker Cassiem, CEO of the SSS Foundation, also revealed that some Western Cape MPLs secured additional funding from the National Government.
“SAFA CT breached these agreements,” said Cassiem. “All funds, except for those handled by SSS, such as vending and other small amounts, were redirected to the SAFA CT bank account. We first requested the audited financial statements in June 2024, and followed up through legal channels before the SAFA Cape Town congress. As of today, we have not received any response, nor even an acknowledgment of our correspondence. We are now considering our next steps,” he added.
VOC News reached out to Reyaad Joseph, the General Secretary of SAFA CT, for comment, but he declined to provide a statement.
