28 July 2023 – The South African Football Association has noted the activities of a Twitter account that claims to be a member of the media but continues to peddle fabricated, false, misleading and malicious information about the Association’s President Dr Danny Jordaan and Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis.
This disgraceful Twitter handle claims that senior Banyana Banyana players had a meeting with Ellis ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Group G match against Argentina on Friday (28 July 2023) and demanded that goalkeeper Andile Dlamini should play ahead of teammate Kaylin Swart. This handle further claims that Ellis said she could not play Dlamini as she is being blamed by the SAFA President as the initiator of the pay dispute that preceded the team’s departure to the World Cup.
Nothing could be further from the truth. No such meeting took place and as Ellis herself explained a few days ago, her selections are her prerogative and no one else. The SAFA President is not involved in selections and this Twitter account’s claims are defamatory and slanderous.
It is not the first time this fake news account peddles misleading information about the President and the Banyana Banyana coach, and this latest attempt to slander their names will not go unchallenged.
SAFA will not just fold its hands going forward and will also consider its options.