Kgoale happy R2m windfall came straight to Banyana

Banyana Banyana midfield workhorse Nomvula “Lipstick Lady” Kgoale has applauded TymeBank for giving the team the R2m they'd pledged directly, instead of involving the SA Football Association (Safa).

“We were more than happy to see the money coming directly to us. TymeBank did very well by not involving other parties because before we know it, we'd hear stories of tax or some other processes... sometimes we just never know where this money goes,'' Kgoale told Sowetan yesterday at TymeBank head office, where the digital bank handed over a R2m cheque to Banyana for their World Cup exploits.

“So, if the money goes from the bank to the rightful owners, which is Banyana, we are delighted because there were never any problems.”

TymeBank's chief commercial officer Cheslyn Jacobs confirmed the R2m had already been divided and transferred directly to the players, technical team and the entire support staff. Jacobs said the reason they didn't involve Safa was that they have no partnership with them. 

“We've paid the money to the team directly. The players and the whole staff who were part of the World Cup have received their share of R2m... even as far as the driver and the kit manager. We agreed that we were going to split the proceeds equally among all of them. I think we divided the entire proceeds by 42 or 41 and that's the whole team,'' Jacobs explained.

“We're not an official partner of the association [Safa] and I suppose we were not at liberty to discuss bonuses with them. As a business, one thing we wanted to do was to guarantee that the squad would get the full proceeds.”

The cheque was received by Banyana coach Desiree Ellis, alongside several players such as Kaylin Swart, Bambanani Mbane, Karabo Dhlamini, Melinda Kgadiete, Kholosa Biyana and Kgoale among others.

TymeBank which has SA billionaire and CAF president Patrice Motsepe's African Rainbow Capital as a major shareholder, had pledged R2m to Banyana to diffuse the bonus impasse with Safa before the World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand last year, where the team went on to reach the last 16 for the first time ever.

Jacobs reasoned that they delayed paying Banyana because of logistical challenges.

“It's tough... the players travel all over the place and not all of them are based in SA, so getting the logistics right and timing right wasn't easy... we wanted to host them here and that delayed the process,'' Jacobs said.