POLITICIANS AND SPORT!

SA president slams Bafana Bafana.

We cannot be a losing nation in a way that Bafana Bafana lost in Egypt said South Africa's president Thabo Mbeki. South Africa's dismal showing at the ongoing African Cup of Nations has earned a stinging rebuke from the country's president. Thabo Mbeki accused Bafana Bafana, which failed to reach the second round of the tournament, of not defending the country's honour. "They did not try to ensure that our country becomes a winning nation," said Mbeki in his speech to an African National Congress Youth League event in Kroonstad on Sunday. "We cannot be a losing nation in a way that Bafana Bafana lost in Egypt."

Mbeki's comments, replayed on television and covered by local newspapers on Monday, have added to the growing discontent surrounding the national side, after the team failed to qualify for the World Cup finals in Germany. Hosts of the 2010 World Cup finals, South Africa lost group C games against Guinea and Tunisia and cannot reach the quarter-finals, even if they beat Zambia on Monday.

BBC NEWS REPORT.