CAPE TOWN, May 31 (Reuters) - South Africa failed to depart for the 2026 World Cup as planned on Sunday after some players and officials had not received visas 11 days ahead of their tournament-opening match against co-hosts Mexico due to be watched by millions worldwide.
The team had been due to leave on a charter flight for their training base in the Mexican city of Pachuca but that was postponed while the South African Football Association tried to sort out the paperwork.
"This SAFA travel and visa debacle is embarrassing and grossly unfair towards the players and coaching staff," said Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie in a post on X.
"I have informed SAFA that I need a report and action must be taken against those responsible for this mess. We are being made to look like fools."
The football association said in a statement that the team had been unable to fly in the morning as planned due to "challenges regarding visas" for some players and officials.
"SAFA is working around the clock to ensure that the team travels to Mexico City as soon as possible," it added, without giving more details of the specific problems.
"We remain committed to ensuring that the team’s preparations for the tournament remain on track and in the meantime, Bafana Bafana will continue to train in Johannesburg until departure."
EMERGENCY MEETING
An emergency SAFA meeting was planned for later on Sunday.
Clayson Monyela, spokesperson for South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation, said in a post on X the matter was "receiving attention".
South Africa kick off the World Cup in Mexico City on June 11, and are appearing at the global finals for the first time since they were hosts themselves in 2010.
Coach Hugo Broos had previously spoken of wanting to be in Mexico by June 1 at the latest to allow his players to recover from jetlag and acclimatise to the altitude, though with most of the squad based on South Africa's Highveld any delay may not have much impact.
Pachuca is around 680 metres (2,200 feet) further above sea level than Johannesburg at 2,432m.
South Africa are due to play Jamaica in Mexico on Friday in a final warm-up fixture.
An administrative bungle in qualifying almost cost them their place at the finals when their 2-0 victory over Lesotho was overturned after they fielded an ineligible player in Teboho Mokoena, who was suspended for the clash.
Despite this, they still finished a point ahead of Nigeria and Benin in their qualification pool.
South Africa also have Group A games against Czech Republic (June 18) in the U.S. city of Atlanta and South Korea (June 24) in Monterrey back in Mexico.
(Reporting by Nick Said; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Clare Fallon)
