By David Gold
January 18 – African Cup of Nations co-hosts Equatorial Guinea are embroiled in a dispute with South Africa over a hotel bill arising from a friendly between the two countries to open the Estadio de Bata earlier this month.
The two nations played out a 0-0 draw on January 6 as Equatorial Guinea officially opened the stadium in Bata, one of the venues for the 2012 African Nations Cup, being co-hosted with Gabon, which gets underway this weekend.
As the South African delegation returned to the Plaza del Leroj hotel, they were prevented from leaving until a bill of $9,000 (£7,060/€8,560) was settled.
Equatorial Guinea’s Government had agreed to pay for the South African party’s travel and accommodation, but had only paid for the 36 people who were originally set to travel.
The final five members of the 41 person delegation had therefore not been paid for, leading to the disagreement with hotel staff.
They refused to let the team leave without payment and would not accept a credit card, forcing a member of the South African embassy staff to stay until Monday 9 to settle the bill.
South Africa Football Association (SAFA) spokesman Dominic Chimhavi told insideworldfootball: “When [the team] tried to check out they were told ‘you brought in extra people’, so they charged $9,000 more on top of that.
“Barney Kujane (pictured) (South Africa’s manager) said can we pay on credit card, but was told they don’t take cards, only cash.”
South Africa’s embassy in Equatorial Guinea has complained to the Government of the African Cup of Nations hosts over their treatment.
A letter seen by insideworldfootball from the South African embassy to their counterparts in Equatorial Guinea complains of their “harsh treatment” and indicates that an official complaint will be lodged.
South African newspaper Sunday World quoted SAFA chief executive Robin Peterson as saying: “I was involved in the resolution talks.
“We negotiated until we reached an agreement and the money was paid on Monday.
“The embassy volunteered to help, as they always do when Bafana travel abroad.”
South Africa were due to face Zambia in a friendly shortly after the friendly with Equatorial Guinea.
A similar event took place last year in Sudan when the South African team were held in Khartoum and hotel staff demanded money from their delegation.
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