Banyana Banyana on Tuesday received a raucous heroes’ welcome when the returning Women’s African Cup of Nations (Wafcon) champions touched down in Mzansi.
With the trophy in tow after Saturday’s victory over hosts Morocco, the first-time winners vowed that this is just the beginning, with the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand coming up next year.
Having sent out an invitation to fans via social media to meet them at OR Tambo International at 9.30am Tuesday morning, the mense didn’t disappoint.
Even with their arrival delayed until 10.55am, there was now spoiling the vibe to greet their African queens.
But once semifinal hero Linda Motloho entertained the crowd with her viral social media celebration dance as the likes of Bafana Bafana skipper Ronwen Williams and Afcon 1996 hero Mark Williams joined the team on stage, the party was aan.
Sports minister Nathi Mthethwa then stole the show with a R5.8m bonus cheque to the continental champs.
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— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) July 26, 2022
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Banyana Banyana are here! Coverage of their arrival is LIVE.
📺 Stream here: https://t.co/0BMWdeEYT3 pic.twitter.com/L0kqpCYL5a
And Kaapse ace Jermaine Seoposenwe claims that this is just the start.
The 28-year-old striker tells SuperSport: “This is a great result for the people of South Africa.
“It’s amazing to come back to this [crowd]. Words can’t describe it.”
Banyana Banyana Arrival#SABCSportFootball https://t.co/a7ZNMCXcgb
Turning her attention to their next challenge Down Under, the Braga star adds: “It’s going to take a lot of preparation.
“Going to the last World Cup as debutants, our performance wasn’t as good as we hoped.
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Minister of Sports, Arts & Culture Nathi Mthethwa says it will be gazetted that Bafana & Banyana get equal pay as the government claim credit for the Women’s Afcon success 🏆#SABCSportFootball pic.twitter.com/3qwT5bZohO
“We wanna go back there and hopefully get out of the group stages as well.
“But we need more camps and and spend more time together as a team and we want to do as well as we can.”
matthew.marcus@inl.co.za