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Safa facing R20 000 fine
11/02/2007 22:16 - (SA)
Gert Coetzee
Cape Town - A R20 000 fine for employing an overseas coach for the national soccer team without arranging for a work permit seems to be a drop in the ocean for the South African Football Association.
Especially if the coach earns about R60 000 a day.
The department of home affairs has confirmed that Safa will be fined because Carlos Parreira, chief coach of the Bafana Bafana, and his assistant and fellow Brazilian Jairo Leal, have been employed without a work permit.
Parreira and Leal did not have work permits when they started coaching the SA players last week.
Home affairs spokesperson Mantshele Tau said on Sunday that, in terms of immigration laws, foreigners needed a permit before they could work in South Africa.
Parreira and Leal, who have been contracted to coach the SA team until after the 2010 World Cup tournament in South Africa, had only visitors' permits when they arrived, and should not have started coaching.
If they were employed for only a short time their visitors' permits could have been amended to allow them to do so.
Tau said: "If an individual contravenes (the law), a fine or an arrest could be considered. In this case, it was the employee (Safa) who contravened.
"They knew last year that new coaches were coming, but have applied only now for work permits."
The maximum fine is R20 000.
Tau said the department had now received Safa's application for two work permits.
"In the interest of South Africa's participation in the 2010 World Cup tournament the applications will be processed immediately. Meanwhile, they are not allowed to coach."
Parreira's appointment made headlines when it emerged that he would be paid about R80m - R1.8m a month - until 2010.
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