Bafana contract eludes designer

Molingoana, the creator of Ephymol, says Nkumane okayed the idea of dressing the team three weeks ago.

Nkumane even gave Molingoana a logo of Safa to put on some of the blankets he had created for the team.

Molingoana says his vision was to dress the team and give them a South African feel.

He says he presented his idea to Nkumane in January.

According to Molingoana, Nkumane seemed to like the idea and asked him to prepare a proper presentation with samples of the clothing.

Molingoana says they met at Safa House in Jozi about two months ago, where he made a presentation to Nkumane. He says Nkumane liked the idea of blankets and asked him to order about 100 blankets.

He says Nkumane started acting strangely, avoiding calls and e-mails.

Two weeks before Bafana left for their training camp in Germany, Molingoana asked to see the designer at his office.

“He told me to forget about it because Bafana would be dressed by somebody from Turkey,” Molingoana says.

Nkumane rejects Molingoana's version of events and says he is disappointed that he ran to the media.

“He is not the only person bidding to dress the team. Second, there is a procedure to be followed by every institution,” Nkumane says. He says the national team might be dressed by a Sandton-based company and not by foreign designers as Malingoana claims.

Source: Sunday World