Banyana Banyana vice captain Refiloe Jane says as a team they owe it to the nation to bring back gold from Cameroon where the squad will partipicate in the 2016 CAF Women’s African Cup of Nations Tournament.

The South Africans will be making their 11th appearance at the event but have never won it. They were runners up on four occassions – 1995, 2000, 2008 and 2012.

Nigeria are the defending champions after defeating Cameroon in the final in Namibia. Ivory Coast finished third.

But the Banyana Banyana players believe now is their time.

“This is my third Women’s Championships and I believe this trophy has eluded us for far too long. We have a good group of experience and youth within the team and I believe that the experience we gained during the 2016 Rio Olympics will assist us during this tournament,” said Jane.

“Two years ago in Namibia we failed to finish in the top three, so we believe we owe it to the nation and ourselves to make an impact this time round. We believe in ourselves and the technical team’s approach to matches and we will need to dig deep to ensure we reach our objective.”

The Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana open their account in the tournament with a clash against neighbours Zimbabwe on Saturday, 19 November.

The match will be played at Stade de Yaounde in the capital of Cameroon.

Kickoff is at 18h30 local time (SA time 19h30).

Banyana Banyana’s record at Women’s Africa Cup of Nations:

1995: 2nd

1998: Group Stages

2000: 2nd

2002: 4th

2004: Group Stages

2006: 3rd

2008: 2nd

2010: 3rd

2012: 2nd

2014: 4th

2016: ???