'The show will go on': SAFA CEO Motlanthe bemused by PSL's 11th-hour exit from Congress

At Emperors Palace

South African Football Association CEO Tebogo Motlanthe on Friday said their workshop and congress programme will go ahead with or without the Premier Soccer League's (PSL) appearance, after the professional soccer firm announced that they would boycott the mother body's function this weekend.

The PSL said in a statement on Thursday that they would not attend SAFA's workshop/Indaba/congress on the East Rand over the weekend, as they had taken issue with the agenda to be discussed.

"The executive committee unanimously resolved that the PSL will not attend the workshop/Indaba or the Ordinary SAFA Congress scheduled for Sunday," the league's statement said.

It added that it would "seek an urgent audience with the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture (Zizi Kodwa); the President of CAF (Patrice Motsepe); and the stakeholders that support professional football".

A somewhat bemused Motlanthe, who brushed off any suggestions of a low-level insurgency from the league, made it clear that FIFA and the Confederation of African Football's (CAF) presence at the congress would ensure that business would go ahead regardless of the PSL's absence. 

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He also said that it was not immediately clear what specifically on the weekend's agenda had caused the PSL to take umbrage.

"It (relations with the PSL) has been solid, and I have direct contact from an operations perspective where, if they need anything, they pick up the phone," Motlanthe said.

"I was surprised (at the PSL boycott) and I don't want to dwell on this animosity because it’s spoken about like it’s a ghost, because I've never seen it, but I hear about it.

"When I