Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula said het would neither withdraw nor apologise for his scathing comments about the national black soccer team.
Bafana Bafana are a “bunch of losers” and “unbearable, useless individuals”, he said earlier.
Mbalula said the whole country has had enough of the national soccer team’s string of poor performances.
There are no white players in the team, despite South African laws that force too white sports teams to be racially diverse.
At a press briefing on Monday, Mbalula slammed Bafana, the hosts, for being knocked out of the 2014 African Nations Championship (Chan).
He singled out goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs as the reason for the team’s embarrassing 3-1 defeat by African champions Nigeria.
“What I saw there was not a problem of coaching, it was a bunch of losers, who don’t have any respect for this country and don’t have any respect for anybody,” said Mbalula.
“The second goal … the goalkeeper commits a penalty, alone, single-handedly, and without being assisted by anybody.
Mbalula said the “mediocre” display that was seen on the pitch at Cape Town Stadium shocked him and South African Football Association president Danny Jordaan. It was also a sign that Bafana were in a crisis.
The coloured Jordaan hinted that their woes came as result of having a white coach, Gordon Isegund, and that he should resign.
Mbalula’s comments triggered outrage on Twitter, with some users calling on him to retract his statement and apologise, while others supported and agreed with him.
Asked to comment on calls for Mbalula to withdraw his remarks, the minister’s spokesman, Paena Galane, said “there is nothing to withdraw”.
“The country has also had enough of Bafana Bafana’s performance. The country keeps hosting these events with the hope of improving,” said Galane.
He said football authorities would be meeting with the team to discuss performance.
