Mbeki wants 'Bafana' name change

The South Africa national team are also known as the Bafana Bafana

South African President Thabo Mbeki has called for the national football team to drop its Bafana Bafana (The Little Boys) nickname, saying it is unsuitable for the hosts of the 2010 World Cup.

Mbeki's governing African National Congress (ANC) party want the Springbok rugby team to lose its nickname.

The president said in a radio interview there should be a rethink about the names of all the national teams, including the women's football team Banyana Banyana (The Girls).

"What kind of a name [Bafana Bafana] is it? I don't think it is fit for a senior national team or for the hosts of the 2010 Fifa World Cup," Mbeki told a South African radio station.

"We need to revisit the names of teams like Bafana Bafana, Banyana Banyana, Amaglug-glug [the under-23 football team]."

All the national sides used to be known as the Springboks during the whites-only apartheid era which ended in 1994, but most of the teams have since adopted new monickers such as the Proteas in cricket.

The one notable exception has been the rugby team but even their name is under threat after the ANC passed a resolution at a conference earlier this year for the Springbok title and emblem to be scrapped.