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Two of South Africa’s most respected football academies, the School of Excellence and Remember Elite Sport Academy, have voiced serious frustration over the continued failure of several professional clubs to pay development and solidarity fees.
The two academies say their operations are now under threat due to this long-standing issue.
At the heart of the complaint is the failure by some professional clubs to pay the mandatory development and solidarity fees.
School of Excellence Football Manager Mojalefa Mathebula says the South African Football Association (SAFA) needs to take ownership of this process.
"SAFA has dropped the ball when it comes to funding of youth development. Some people are running this institution, whilst running football clubs so maybe there is a bit of reluctance to focus on this issue of development and solidarity fees.
"Since the 1995 Bosman ruling, the trajectory of player movements has completely changed, but people forget that future player movement could be used to drive and fund youth development."
In 2017, SOE received R2 million from the sale of former Bafana Bafana and junior international Phakamani Mahlambi, when the now defunct Bidvest Wits sold him to African giants Al Ahly for R20 million.
Under both FIFA and SAFA regulations, when a player signs a professional contract or is transferred, a percentage of the transfer value or a set development amount must be paid to the player’s former youth clubs.
Mathebula suggests that there must be punitive measures for clubs that don’t comply with these regulations.
"Every young player that signs his professional contract for the first with a club, that club must provide proof of payment for development, because right now, clubs see it as a favour.
"SAFA and the PSL must take punitive measures against teams who are registering players 'illegally' because if you have not paid a development fee, that player is not properly registered."
In 2019, SAFA wrote on their website that according to FIFA’s estimation, 80 percent of solidarity payments go unpaid globally.
It was around that time that the My SAFA club and player registration platform was introduced with the hope that it was going to reduce cases of amateur clubs missing out on the development and solidarity payment fees.
Head of RESA Xolani Mathumbo says they have also been victims of professional clubs not paying development fees.
Without a sustainable funding model, many amateur clubs face closure.
Currently, SOE is going through some serious financial challenges and has also started a crowdfunding initiative as they run out of essentials at the school with their donor of more than 30 years, Transnet pulling out.
Mathebula says a trust account between the PSL and SAFA for development fees can solve this situation.
