South Africa's World Cup squad is now set to depart for the tournament on Monday following delays caused by unresolved travel visa issues, the national football body has confirmed.
The team was originally scheduled to leave for the United States on Sunday before heading to Mexico.
Sports Minister, Gaeton McKenzie, demanded a report from the South African Football Association (SAFA) describing the visa “debacle” as an “embarrassing” administrative error on the part of team officials.
While SAFA announced on Monday that all players have now secured their visas, four key staff members – an assistant coach, team doctor, head of security and an analyst – are still awaiting their visas.
SAFA hoped that the remaining travel documents would be finalized in time to join the charter flight from Johannesburg later today.
The association held an emergency meeting Sunday night and apologized for the disruption and acknowledged receiving assistance from the South African Foreign Ministry and the US Consulate in Johannesburg to resolve the problems.
The incident follows a previous investigation into the team's management during World Cup qualifying, when midfielder Teboho Mokoena played in the match against Lesotho despite being suspended.
Although South Africa were later stripped of their victory, the team ultimately qualified for the tournament by topping their group.
South Africa will be participating in the World Cup for the first time since hosting the event in 2010. As part of Group A, they face co-hosts Mexico in the opening game in Mexico City on June 11, before playing the Czech Republic in Atlanta and South Korea in Monterrey, Mexico.
Their match against Mexico will be a repeat of the opening game of the 2010 World Cup, which ended in a 1–1 draw.
South Africa lost their next match 3–0 against Uruguay, before achieving an unexpected 2–1 win over France in their final group match.
However, they still missed the knockout stage after finishing third in their group behind Uruguay and Mexico.
They will be hoping to go further this time around, as the team is now set to depart for this summer's tournament.